


Costs of Scientific Knowledge

by OceansGoddess



Category: Jurassic Park, Jurassic World - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2018-04-06 00:57:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4201782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceansGoddess/pseuds/OceansGoddess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Owen Grady x Reader<br/>***Rated M for language and later violence and sexual themes.***</p>
<p>(Y/N) is a marine scientist that specializes in marine reptiles. One day she gets a job offer from Jurassic World to take care and study their Mosasaurus. She is reluctant to accept because of her parents, but Jurassic World convinces her to come take a look. After meeting the Mosasaur she makes the decision to stay.  (Y/N) makes friends and meets Owen Grady when he joins the parks staff. As time passes will they stay friends or will something more come to light? The path in front of them is fraught with obstacles in their way, some with very sharp teeth. </p>
<p>You better be careful, you never know just lies behind the doors of Jurassic World.</p>
<p>This story starts before Jurassic World, thru it and possible past. It includes adapted scenes from the Jurassic World movie, Jurassic World Game for iphone, and possibly hints from the book and past movies.</p>
<p>*I do not claim any of Jurassic World's characters as my own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Job Offer

**Author's Note:**

> Hello fellow Jurassic World fans! 
> 
> I do ask you please be kind since this is my first story that I have actually written, bu I would love to hear your thoughts on my writing and story, so feel free to comment!
> 
> Also this is a story, so it builds into the relationship. If you want to skip to Owen he shows up in Chapter 6.
> 
> Enjoy the story!
> 
> Live on Raptor Squad! <3

The jeep rolled to a stop on the dry dirt of Montana. (Y/N) opened the door with a smile and looked out over the desert, her head filled with fond childhood memories. She tugged her ball cap on while walking towards the nearby trailer. (Y/N) knocked on the door, opened it, and leaned in. “Dad, you in here?” The silence of the small trailer answered her question. She shook her head. ‘ _No surprise there._ ’

“Uh, do you need something miss?”

(Y/N) turned around to see a young man carrying a box of digging supplies. Smiling warmly at him, she closed the trailer door behind her. “Actually, yes. Do you know where Dr. Grant is?”

“Oh, yeah. He’s just over that ridge, at the dig site.” He pointed over to a hill to the west, the box of supplies almost slipping from his grasp.

She grabbed the box and steadied it in his hands. “Careful with this, I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate these being dropped.”

Clearly nervous from their proximity, he stumbled over his words. “Yeah…I was…uh… just heading over there actually. I… uh…can take you over there… if you like.”

“Thanks, I would appreciate that,” she smiled politely at him before following him to the hill. He looked back at her every once in a while, clearly curious as to why she was here. (Y/N) gave him a nod when she caught him looking at her. As they made it over the crest of the hill, she looked down to see the familiar hustle of the dig site.

There was man with a familiar light brown cowboy’s hat pointing toward a skeleton that was being unearthed. “Stop!” The people picking up the bones paused and looked up at him. “You have to remove them slower. They are very fragile during the removal process.”

 “You’re probably more fragile than those 65 million year old bones!” (Y/N) yelled down with a bright smile on her face as she made her way down the hill. The man next to her looked at her, horrified, thinking she had a death wish.

The man turned toward her with a scowl, until he saw her face. Instantly his expression changed to surprise and happiness. “(Y/N)?! What are you doing here?”

She walked up to him and gave him a big hug, which he returned. “What? I can’t come and visit my own father?” she said teasingly.

He looked down at her with a stern face, but amusement in his eyes. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

A small laugh escaped and she smiled at him. “I know dad. Actually, I had some news I wanted to talk to you about.”

He raised an eyebrow curiously. “What news would require you to come all the way to Montana?”

They walked the short distance back to his trailer. “Well,” she tried to figure out the best way to go about this. “I got a job offer.”

He opened the door to his trailer and let her in first before shutting the door behind him. He took off his hat and placed it on the counter. “A job offer? What reason would you need to talk to me about some job offer?” There was concern evident in his voice.

(Y/N) suddenly felt very nervous, even after preparing for days for this confrontation. She started to pick at the edge of the counter with her back turned towards him. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she gathered up her courage and straightened before looking back at him. “Yes, from Jurassic World.”

Before (Y/N) could say anything else, he blurted out, “No! I will not allow you to go near that god forsaken island.” His voice rose and tightened with irritation, “They knew they couldn’t get me or your mother to come, so they go after our daughter.” She had expected him to be angry. Still, that didn’t mean that she liked seeing him so upset. As he started to calm down from his outburst, (Y/N) could see the concern in his eyes when he looked at her. He sighed and sat down in a nearby chair, putting his face in his hands. After a brief moment he looked back up at her. “Why do they need a marine biologist anyhow?”

(Y/N) moved a stool over from the counter to sit next to him. “Apparently, they need someone to care of a Mosasaurus that they are creating for the park. I got the job because of my expertise in marine reptiles and uh…” she looked back to him, almost scared to say it.

The look in her eyes made him understand. “Because of your familiarity with the fossil remnants of dinosaurs,” he finished.

She nodded slowly. The tense silence felt as if it dragged on for ages, before she decided to break it. “If it’s worth anything, I haven’t accepted it yet.”

He raked a hand through his silvering hair, trying to wrap his head around the idea of his only daughter going that dreaded island. “Have you told your mother yet?”

(Y/N) shook her head. “Not yet, I will be heading there next though. I figured this was better to do in person.”

“Well you’re right about that. But it would have been better if it wasn’t at all.”

(Y/N) started to pick at her nails; it had always been one of her nervous habits. “I know dad. One reason I hadn’t already accepted it yet is because I know what you and mom went through on Isla Nublar. This new park has been open now for a few months now with no incidents.” He opened his mouth to inject, but she knew what he was going to say and held up a finger to stop him. “I voiced my concern about the park still being dangerous, and obviously someone did their homework, since they proceeded to offer me access to inspect the park and the facilities to make sure that I deemed it safe before accepting. They also told me that I would be the head of the division for the Mosasaurus, would be able to request anything that I felt I needed, and be allowed to study its behavior, etc. I also don’t have to make my decision until after I visit the park and decide that I feel safe.” She took a moment to let it sink in before she looked up at him and waited for his reply. He looked more tired now than when she met him out at the dig site.

He studied her face, his eyes searching. “You’re going to that damned island aren’t you? And there is no changing your mind.”

It almost sounded like a question, but (Y/N) gravely nodded her head. “I grew up hearing your stories of those islands, Dad. I am also a scientist. Given the opportunity, how could I decline going to see the island that has the animals I’ve seen skeletons of since I was five? Not to mention all the stories I have heard.” She paused, shrugging. “Even if it is only for a day before I decline their offer.”

A small smile appeared on his lips. “Stubborn. Just like your mother.”

“Which will make breaking the news to her next a lot of fun.” She smiled back at him.

The tension started to fade as they both laughed. After thinking about it for a week, (Y/N) hadn’t fully decided herself if she would actually decline the offer or not, but she had a feeling that they had a trick up their sleeve to make her stay.


	2. Visiting Jurassic World

As she stepped off the boat ramp onto the dock, (Y/N) looked toward the coast to see a train waiting for the sea of people flowing towards it. It was amazing how so many people had thrown away their fears and concerns about what happened on this island in the past. However, (Y/N) still retained her own concerns; she had been hearing her parent’s stories in her head since stepping onto the plane to Costa Rica. Y/N pushed her dread to the side and adjusted the bag on her shoulder. As she walked down the dock, she noticed a black haired lady with a tablet which read, ‘Ms. (Y/N) Sattler’.

‘ _You’ve got to be joking. The people hiring me can’t even bother to meet me at the docks._ ’ She took a breath to calm down, before heading towards the woman.

As (Y/N) neared the lady, she looked me up and down before asking, “Ms. Sattler I presume?” Her British accent threw (Y/N) off momentarily.

“Yes and you are?” She tried to be polite as possible, given that her nerves were making her antsy.

The black haired lady placed her tablet into her large purse, “My name is Zara. I am here to show you around the park before your meeting with my boss at 3pm.” From her tone (Y/N) could tell she wasn’t thrilled to be a tour guide.

A voice rang out from the speakers saying that the train would be leaving in 5 minutes. (Y/N) started to walk toward the train with Zara. “Will I be seeing any of behind the scenes before the meeting?” (Y/N) really wanted to gauge the safety of the park before being ‘amazed by the power of this place’ as Dr. Ian Malcom loved to say. She had only ever met him a few times, probably to her father’s displeasure, but her parents always agreed with him on that bit.

“Sorry, but you are scheduled to access behind the scenes during your meeting with my boss.” Zara didn’t sound that apologetic and didn’t even bother to look up from her phone.

‘ _Great. They probably figure letting me see the dinosaurs would help warm me up._ ’ As (Y/N) took a seat on the train, she couldn’t deny that part of her was just as excited to see the dinosaurs as the kids surrounding her. ‘ _Damn it. It will probably work too._ ’ She looked out the window and saw the large wooden doors to Jurassic World, the same spot that her parents went through 22 years before. (Y/N) watched with both awe and dread as the train passed the doors. There was no turning back now. She was officially in the park.

The train stopped and everyone got off. (Y/N) took a hesitant first step in Jurassic World’s park, but felt a growing childish excitement. It felt like the first time she got to go with her dad to a dig site and unearth a dinosaur. Y/N had to mentally remind herself of what her parents went through, and that lives had been lost here. It helped her to stay in a reasonable state of mind.

“Would you like to go to the hotel room and drop off your bag?” Zara’s voice interrupted (Y/N)’s inner struggle between child and rational adult.

(Y/N) glanced at her watch, which read 10:46 am. ‘ _If I want to see the ‘tourist’ part of the exhibits before my meeting I won’t be able to drop of my bag._ ’ Her inner child rationalized wanting to see the live dinosaurs. (Y/N) had only brought a backpack with a few days’ worth of clothes, thinking that would help her leave this island after declining the job offer. “No, I should be fine. I would prefer to spend my time looking at the exhibits that are currently open.”

Zara sighed, “Very well. We will start with the T-rex, since that’s what everyone comes here to see.”

She walked on ahead as (Y/N) stood frozen, either from excitement or fear, though she had a feeling it was a mixture of both. After a quick mental shake she caught up with the woman. Zara hadn’t even noticed (Y/N) wasn’t behind her. They made their way through Main Street and (Y/N)’s thoughts continued to race through her head.

It was close to 11 am when they reached the exhibit, and a feeding show was about to begin. (Y/N) managed to squeeze herself past most of the people to get better view of the window. Her eyes systematically scanned the enclosure. The exhibit had large trees and the viewing area was a ‘dead’ tree with large glass windows. After inspection, the glass appeared to be at least 5 inches thick. ‘ _Is five inches thick enough? What kind of glass is this?’_ A hydraulic noise broke her attention from the glass and back out to the exhibit. (Y/N) paled, her heart clenched in panic and it felt as if time had stopped. They were using a goat as bait, just like they had done at the original park. ‘ _After all this time, they really have learned nothing._ ’ (Y/N) watched as a flare landed near the goat and she heard the magnificent yet terrifying roar of the ancient beast. Dad had always said it was something you wouldn’t ever forget hearing. He was right. It prowled out of the trees and straight toward the goat. (Y/N) was fearful that all the movement from the crowd around her would attract the tyrannosaur’s attention. Thankfully it ignored them and chowed down on the goat. As (Y/N) watched the movements of this humongous beast, she gained a new appreciation and respect for it. Never in her life had she observed an animal so terrifying, yet captivating. (Y/N) heard her dad say, ‘ _The only thing more terrifying than coming face to face with a T-rex is when you face off a velociraptor. When you look at them, you can tell they are looking right back at you._ ’ He had even mentioned that velociraptors were extremely intelligent and capable of communication. The T-rex left soon after finishing the small snack and the crowd dispersed. (Y/N) continued to look around, trying to identify how large an exhibit they had the T-rex in.

Zara interrupted her thoughts yet again – it was starting to get on (Y/N)’s nerves. “You ready to go to the next exhibit?”

“Uh, yes. I have a couple of questions though.” (Y/N) looked back at Zara after a brief moment of silence. She was on her phone and not paying attention.

Zara eventually glanced up at (Y/N) before looking back to her phone. “Ok.”

(Y/N) eyebrows furrowed at her growing irritation. So childishly, Y/N decided to ask all her questions at once. “Do you know what kind of glass this is? How large is this exhibit? How often do they do this feeding show and is it on a randomized schedule? Also is the Tyrannosaur isolated or can it interact with other animals?” She paused for a moment before adding one last question, since there wasn’t anyone around at the moment. “How many deaths have there been since the construction of this new park?”

Zara put down her phone and gave (Y/N) a disapproving glace at the last question. (Y/N) smiled innocently at her to make it more irritating. “There have been no deaths or injuries since the park was built.” Zara said it forcefully, which almost made it sounded rehearsed. “As to your other questions, I don’t know the answer to any of them. You can ask the staff once you go behind the scenes. Now if you will follow me, there is more to see.”

As she walked away, (Y/N) frowned and took one last glace into the T-rex exhibit. ‘ _I wonder if I will ever get a straight answer out of anyone in this park._ ’


	3. Meeting the Bosses

(Y/N) and Zara walked into the main information building at 2:50 pm. (Y/N) watched as children ran around the large atrium. Some kids were looking at holographic dinosaurs, others were ‘unearthing’ a dinosaur in the corner of the building. That brought a smile to (Y/N)’s face. She had to admit that this place did have a way of making kids love and appreciate dinosaurs even more. Zara was a few steps ahead and gave disgusted looks to people that didn’t let her through. How she got this job was beyond (Y/N)’s comprehension.

Nearing the middle of the room, a large group of kids ran across (Y/N) path. Some of them were correcting their parents’ failed attempts to name the holographic dinosaurs, which made her laugh. Zara called from across the room to grab her attention, as she had stopped to let the children pass. (Y/N) looked over and saw that Zara was standing next to a red haired lady who looked like she was dressed to impress. The woman’s eyes scanned over (Y/N) and the edges of her lips curled down slightly; obviously she disapproved of something. A small smirk crossed (Y/N)’s lips when she realized it was because how she was dressed. (Y/N) was in her typical field gear clothing: waterproof sandals, short cargo shorts, and a tank top. ‘ _Come to think of it, that’s probably why Zara offered to go to the hotel first, but what were they expecting? I am a field scientist, plus it’s tropical and way too damn hot in Costa Rica to wear anything else._ ’

The red head smiled as (Y/N) walked towards her, though (Y/N) could tell it was a well-practiced fake smile that could fool most into thinking it was genuine. “You must be Ms. Sattler. It’s very nice to finally meet you.” She extended her hand.

Putting on a similar smile on, (Y/N) shook the woman’s hand. “Nice to meet you. You are?” (Y/N) was trying to be as polite as possible.

“Oh, where are my manners? My name is Claire Dearing, but you can call me Claire.” She gestured to a nearby hallway and the two women started the walk in silence.

“Well Claire, you’ve gone to a lot of trouble to get me here.” (Y/N) looked around as they walked through the hall. People were standing around looking in at the lab workers, who were observing eggs or working with amber. ‘ _This must be where they create the dinosaurs._ ’

Claire continued to walk straight ahead toward an elevator, but didn’t miss a beat. “That’s because you are one of the brightest minds in the field of marine reptiles. Who better to raise and observe one of largest marine reptiles currently known?”

(Y/N) knew it was a rhetorical question, but part of her wished that she had another name to give the red-head. As they entered the elevator, (Y/N) decided to switch tactics, watching carefully for any reaction. “So it didn’t have anything to do with my parents being some of the brightest in paleontology? Or having experienced most of your park’s animals before?”

Claire pressed her lips together, either to stop from saying something she shouldn’t or in aggression, (Y/N) couldn’t tell. Claire’s smile returned, but she continued to look forward at the elevator doors. “No that was not the reason we want to hire you.”

Unsatisfied with the reaction she received, (Y/N) shifted the backpack on her shoulders. ‘ _That’s what you want me to think or what you’ve been told, but I doubt that is entirely true._ ’

The elevator doors opened and Claire walked out first, showing her ID to the guard near the doors and telling him that (Y/N) was with her. (Y/N) looked out over the approximately 20 people that all sat at computer screens, monitoring the large screen in the center. She observed different parts of the center screen and saw different parts of the park. Some of them were focused on the main area of the park, others were focused on parts of the animal enclosures, and then there was a map in the middle showing the whole island. The map had only half of the island accessible to tourists, while the other half was restricted. (Y/N) tilted her head to the side slightly, ‘ _Why would they restrict half of the island. What are they keeping up there?_ ’ Her stomach tightened as her worst fears came to the front of her mind, ‘ _Probably nothing good._ ’

Before (Y/N) could voice her fears, Claire spoke up. “I’m sure you are still concerned about the safety of the guests and the staff. Lowery here will go over the safety features we have installed.” Her phone binged, drawing her attention away from (Y/N) briefly. “I will be back shortly, in the meantime feel free to ask Lowery any questions.” With that, she turned on her heel and left the room.

(Y/N) looked back at the screen with a slight frown. She was beginning to feel like coming here was a bad idea.

“Uh, hello.” Lowery watched her as she stared at the center screen. “Do you still want to see the safety features?”

Dragging her eyes away from the screen, they landed on a dark haired man with glasses and a mustache. He looked curiously at her. ‘ _Probably trying to figure out why I was allowed such access._ ’ “Yes, I would, if you don’t mind.” She walked up to his station, noticed the mini dinosaur figurines on his desk, and smirked.

As he worked to pull up the right screens, he glanced towards her out of the corner of his eye. “So… who are you exactly? I mean, not to be rude or anything, but Claire normally doesn’t allow anyone full access to our security features.”

“My name, since you were kind enough to ask, is (Y/N),” she said teasingly, “and let’s just say I’m a special case.” Her face became serious as she looked at him, “Now tell me, what are the security precautions for the animal enclosures, and why is half the island restricted?”

 “Uh, right.” He was surprised by her direct approach, but got right to it. “Well, all the animals in the park have tracking devices implanted under their skin so we can identify where they are.” He pulled up the screen that showed all of the animals in the park as abbreviated labeled dots. “The large herbivorous are contained in a large range open field that has electrified fence surrounding them. The fence has points along it which talk to the computers so we are told where the fence delivers a shock or if lines are somehow broken.” (Y/N) carefully watched his screen as he pulled up all the information. “The carnivores are kept in large isolated paddocks with walls varying on height, but the walls are reinforced cement that is at least three feet thick. We also have multiple thermal cameras monitoring the whole enclosure to insure that the dinos remain inside.” He pulled up the map of the restricted area, “Uh… this part of the island has different paddocks for new dinos before they are placed into the park. The security and monitoring are the same, but it just gives us more time to observe the dinos.” He looked back at (Y/N), but she was busy thinking.

(Y/N) wasn’t fully satisfied with his answer, but he might not actually know everything either. ‘ _The best way to keep secrets is to give people just enough information to keep them informed of the situation, but not so much that they can spill the beans._ ’ A sigh escaped her lips and she looked back at Lowery. “Ok, what about feeding? I hope you don’t open up the gate to feed the carnivores.”

He turned back to the screen and pressed a few things before a map of an enclosure came up. “The herbivores don’t need much since they just eat the plants in the enclosure, but sometimes we do add some enrichment plants for them. That does require going into the enclosure, but the gates are opened from the outside by a code, remote control or from here in the control room. As for the carnivores, they are fed through different electrical gates that release the food. These systems are controlled from outside the enclosure or from here. The main gate for them never opens except for medical reasons, which the animals would have been properly sedated by that point.”

“Any velociraptors?” She hadn’t seen any on any of the lists of dinosaurs on the island, but that didn’t mean they weren’t hiding them somewhere.

Lowery raised an eyebrow at her. “Nope.”

“Are they planning on creating anymore?”

He shook his head. “Not to my knowledge.” This knowledge made her relax a little bit, but she doubted it would stay that way for long.

The elevators doors opened again, revealing Claire and an older Asian man. Claire walked towards (Y/N) with that fake smile on again. “I hope Lowery has answered all your questions and your worries have been settled.”

Lowery sat back and looked between (Y/N) and Claire. (Y/N) still had lots more questions to ask, but she decided that they could be answered later. “Yes for now, but I would still like to personally see the enclosures just to be sure.”  Claire’s smile faded slightly.

“Yes, well, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.” Claire’s voice sounded slightly irritated, though (Y/N) was impressed she was able to hide it so well. “Right now, I would like you to meet Dr. Henry Wu.”

(Y/N) shook hands with Dr. Wu, “I’m surprised you came back Dr. Wu, after everything that has happened because of your creations.”

He smiled politely at (Y/N), saying, “Knowledge leads us to do crazy things Ms. Sattler.”

“That it does.” She frowned slightly; that was only half the reason she was here. Now-a-days, it was hard for scientists to be the first to gain new knowledge in a subject. “And please, call me (Y/N).” (Y/N) could see Lowery’s mouth open in shock as he finally made the connection as to who she was.

“If you would.” Claire gestured to the elevator. “We have lots to show you and discuss.” Dr. Wu followed her to the elevator.

(Y/N) turned back towards Lowery, who was at a loss for words. “Thank you, Lowery, for answering my questions.” Before he could get any words out of his mouth, she had entered the elevator. As they descended, she wondered what these people had in store for her next.


	4. Reluctant Acceptance

(Y/N), Claire, and Dr. Wu entered a white room which was similar to the rooms (Y/N) had seen with all the geneticists earlier. However, there weren’t any windows to let guests look in. There were screens along the walls with different codes and DNA strands on them. In the middle there were three circular tables with eggs on them and heat lamps over them. Her eyes caught on the second table which had one egg three times as large as an ostrich egg. She walked towards it curiously. Two pairs of eyes watched her, but she didn’t care. Hesitantly, (Y/N) reached out and gently placed her hand on the large egg. She could feel fluttering inside the egg as the baby moved.

“I see you have already spotted the Mosasaurus egg. It should be hatching any day now.” She could tell Dr. Wu was amused by her reaction.

(Y/N) didn’t answer him: she was too focused on the egg. She could hear, vaguely,  Claire voicing disapproval of her touching the egg. The movements within were getting stronger as it hit the inside walls of the egg. (Y/N) was fascinated, and she figured it was near hatching, so she waited, silently observing the egg. After a few minutes it started to slow down, the blows felt weaker. Her mind raced with questions and possible solutions as the movements continued to slow down. ‘ _Mosasaurus were large animals that had flippers, meaning they were completely built for life in the water. It’s very unlikely that such large creatures would beach themselves to lay eggs like sea turtles do today. They were reptile like, and most reptiles do lay eggs, but there are a few that give live birth. So if these were large reptiles that lived completely in the sea and couldn’t lay eggs on land, they most likely gave live birth. Meaning that if these geneticists put the embryo of a mosasaur in a shelled egg, the baby would probably develop ready to swim, similar to whales and porpoises today. That means the baby would not develop the ability, like an egg tooth, to crack open the shell!_ ’

As the realization hit, there was one last soft movement from within the shell before it ceased. Panicked, (Y/N) looked around the room for any tool that she could use to crack the shell open. When nothing came into view, her heart sank. This poor creature was going to die before its first breath. (Y/N) heard muffled voices that sounded like Dr. Wu and Claire asking what was wrong, but it fell on deaf ears. Then she remembered that there was a nail kit in her bag. (Y/N) quickly slung the bag around, unzipped it, and grabbed the nail kit out. She pulled out the small scissors, ignoring the muffled cries of dismay. She slammed the scissors into the egg before she could be stopped. The scissors made a small hole and left cracks in the surrounding shell. Dr. Wu pulled (Y/N) away from the egg, demanding an explanation, but her eyes remained on the egg.

After what seemed like forever, (Y/N) saw a small snout poke out of the gap she had made and heard it take its first, much needed, breath. She released her breath, which she hadn’t realize she had been holding, and steadied her beating heart.

Dr. Wu’s anger turned to confusion as he watched (Y/N)’s face. He turned to look at the egg and realized what she had done. He released his hold on her, and (Y/N) walked back to the egg to help it out. He turned toward Claire, who still looked appalled at her actions. “Looks like we found the right person for the job.” Dr. Wu said smiling.

(Y/N)’s anger flared at his comment, ‘ _Had they planned this from the beginning? Or are they really that naïve about the animals they are creating?_ ’ The next thought made her heart clench. Through gritted teeth (Y/N) asked, “How many others?”

Dr. Wu turned toward her. “I’m sorry?”

“How many others?” She emphasized every word. “How many have you tried to create and failed, thinking it was some fault in your DNA coding!” (Y/N) was trying hard not to yell, since the baby mosasaur had its head resting on her arm. It was looking at her curiously, making little squeaking noises. The silence from them answered her question, and the only thing subduing her anger was the baby nuzzling into her hand.

(Y/N) took a few deep breaths, trying to rationalize her thoughts. She looked down at the mosasaur, who squeaked again. ‘ _Could I leave this innocent creature in the hands of these idiots? What would happen to it if I left, since it has now most likely imprinted on me._ ’ Gently, (Y/N) rubbed her thumb over its head. Her heart swelled as it leaned into the petting, and in that instant her heart decided for her. ‘ _Shit. Sorry mom, sorry dad._ ’ She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’ll do it.”

Now it was Claire’s turn to speak up. “You’ll do what?”

“I’ll take the job.”

“Excellent. I’m glad you decided to join us at Jurassic World. I’ll get someone to show you to the enclosure.” She left with Dr. Wu.

(Y/N) finished helping the mosasaur out of the shell and held it her arms. It was about 3 feet long. She sat down in a nearby chair, careful not to sit on the tail hanging by her side. She scratched under the baby’s chin, and the mosasaur’s eyes closed happily. ‘ _What have you gotten me into girl?_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All ideas of Mosasaurs sounds are my own for the sake of the story.


	5. Making Friends

It had been about 30 minutes since Claire and Dr. Wu left (Y/N) in the room alone. She had been studying the mosasaur’s behavior, but her attention broke away from the baby when the door open. A bald man with dark brown skin came into the room wearing normal outdoor clothes – (Y/N) liked him already. A genuine smile crossed his face when he saw her cradling the mosasaur.

“You must be (Y/N). It’s nice to meet you, I’m Barry.” He came up and looked at the wiggling form in her arms. “And this must be the newest member of our Jurassic family.”

The mosasaur squeaked at him and (Y/N) smiled warmly. “Nice to meet you Barry. Apologies for not being able to shake your hand.”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. Why don’t you follow me and I’ll take you to the enclosure.”

(Y/N) stood up, adjusting her hold of the mosasaur, who voiced her displeasure at being moved. Barry picked up (Y/N)’s backpack and held the door open for her. They took a different exit that didn’t lead towards the visitor part of the park, and he led her to an SUV. He opened the door for her so she could slide in without having to release the hatchling. Once he got in and started up the car, (Y/N) couldn’t hold back her growing curiosity. “Have you seen her enclosure, Barry?”

“Yes, it’s the large pool in the middle of the park.” He said as he headed down the road toward the employee entrance to the enclosure.

“What!” (Y/N) stared at him, dumbfounded. “They expect her to survive in that enclosure right after being born, I mean hatched?”

Barry glanced over at her. “Is that a problem?”

“Yes it is.” (Y/N)’s anger flared again at this whole situation. “So far, all she has known is me holding her. If I were to put her in that enclosure now, she would most likely drown in the deep water. If what I think is true, she needs to learn to swim first. In the past this was probably done by the mother helping the baby to the surface to breathe, similar to whales today. So I will not just put her in that enclosure until I know she is capable.”

Barry had stopped the car, since they were near the entrance to the lagoon enclosure. He nodded in understanding. “Alright then, what do you have in mind?”

“I need something fairly shallow, but still large enough for her to swim around in without having to swim in circles. Also something I could easily access and get into the water if necessary.” (Y/N) looked over to him. “Is there any place like that?”

He thought for a moment before a wide smile appeared. “I think I know just the place.” He turned the vehicle around and drove off to the other side of the park.

As the car stopped, (Y/N) looked around and saw a building off to the right with the electric fence connecting to it. On the other side of the fence she saw a few triceratops grazing in the nearby field. She gave Barry a questioning look as he opened her door.

Before he could answer, a voice from behind him called out, “Look who decided to come by and say hello.” (Y/N) poked her head around him to see a woman with light brown skin and curly brown hair in a short bob. She noticed (Y/N) behind him and raised an eyebrow. “Who’s this?”

Barry gave her a quick peck on the cheek before turning around to introduce her. “Eliana this is (Y/N). (Y/N) this is Eliana.” Eliana looked her over once, but stopped when she saw the mosasaur in (Y/N) arms. Barry continued, “She is the new mosasaur trainer.” (Y/N) slightly frowned at the word trainer, since she was here as a scientist, but was quick to smile towards the couple.

“Nice to meet you, (Y/N). You can call me El.” She smiled sweetly at (Y/N). “How can I help you?”

“Well, I was looking for a shallow pool I can use for her to learn to swim. Barry must think that you can help.” (Y/N) smiled back at her.

Eliana turned to look at Barry with her eyebrow cocked and hands on her hips. “Oh, did he now?”

Barry suddenly started acting a bit nervous. “You said the other day that the veterinary shed was being refinished. I thought that maybe she could use the watering hole in there.” He sounded hopeful that his answer was enough to persuade El. Her look remained firm, but (Y/N) could tell it was just her tactic to get to him. He then added with a warm smile, “And you being the most kind, sweet, and beautiful woman here, I thought you would be able to help us out.” She smacked him lightly on the shoulder, but there was a smile on her face.

“Alright fine. She can use the shed, but just for a few days.” She pointed a finger at him.

“Thanks babe.” His walkie talkie came to life and the voice mentioned some code that (Y/N) couldn’t decipher. He sighed, “Looks like I have to go.” He grabbed (Y/N)’s bag out of the car and handed it to El. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Is there anything else you need when I return?”

(Y/N) looked at him, realizing that last question was towards her. “Uh, yes. Could you find some small fish, around five inches or so? She is going to be hungry soon and I would really prefer to keep all my fingers,” she said with a joking smile.

He laughed. “I think I can manage that.” With that, he drove off.

“Well, we better get you set up then,” Eli said, pulling (Y/N)’s attention back to her.

As they entered the building, (Y/N) saw the large watering hole. It was about the size of a mini pool, but not as deep. She walked into the cool water, which felt nice compared to the warm air. When (Y/N) bent over to put the mosasaur in the water, the baby started to growl or bellow like an alligator. ‘ _Was she agitated by the loss of contact or scared of this new substance?’_ (Y/N) wondered as the mosasaur floundered a bit, struggling to keep her head above the water. (Y/N) placed her right hand under the mosasaur’s belly to help her stay afloat. (Y/N) moved her hand in the water to get the hatchling used to the water flowing around her. After a couple of minutes she had calmed down enough and started to swim without (Y/N)’s assistance. (Y/N) moved to the side so she could sit down, but still kept her feet in the water. (Y/N) kept an eye on the mosasaur as she swam. Every once in a while, she would squeak at (Y/N), almost as if she was looking for approval. (Y/N) smiled at her and she continued her exploration of the tank.

“Have you come up with a name for her yet?”

El’s voice surprised her and (Y/N) turned around to look at her. (Y/N) shook her head. “No. I hadn’t even thought of that yet.” (Y/N) turned back to the mosasaur swimming around. “Thank you by the way. I really appreciate you letting me use this pool.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Eliana sat down next to her. They both looked down at the baby, who was in front of (Y/N) squeaking again. “You must be brand new.”

“Why do you say that?” (Y/N) shot her a quick questioning glace before trying to figure out what the mosasaur wanted.

“You still have that childlike wonder sparkling in your eyes, especially when you’re watching her.”

(Y/N) grinned. “It’s that obvious, huh?

“Yeah, and you don’t seem to have any friends here yet,” she said.

“I wouldn’t say that.” (Y/N) grinned at Eliana. “I have a feeling one is closer than you might think.”

El laughed, but their attention was stolen by the mosasaur as she squeaked loudly and splashed water on them. “Hey! Watch it.” (Y/N) glared down at her. She squeaked again and snapped her jaws at the surface of the water. “Oh, you’re hungry. I’m sorry, but I don’t have any food with me.” (Y/N) looked over to El. “You don’t happen to have anything do you?”

She shook her head. “All I have are some mangos that I haven’t feed to the trices yet.”

“Are they still making the animal’s lysine deficient?”

“Yeah, why?” El looked curiously at (Y/N).

“Giving her small pieces of mango might be the only way to get her the lysine her body needs at the moment. Do you mind grabbing me one?”

Eliana went and grabbed a mango, sliced it up into smaller pieces, and handed them to (Y/N). (Y/N) held out a piece towards the mosasaur, which she just stared at. Trying a different tactic she tried moving the piece in front of the mosasaur’s face. Instinct took over and she snatched it out of (Y/N)’s hand. When she finished the piece, she swam circles around (Y/N) legs, so she put down another piece which she quickly gobbled down. “Apparently she likes it.” (Y/N) smiled down at the mosasaur, and then it struck her. “I know what her name will be.”

“What?” El asked curiously.

“Mango,” she said with a broad smile as she looked at newly named mosasaur.

“I like it.”

They both continued to watch as Mango swam after the pieces (Y/N) tossed across the pool.


	6. A New Face

Owen observed his surroundings as he followed Barry around, looking at different parts of the exhibits behind the scenes. He had just been hired from the Navy by Jurassic World to help train and research some of their dinosaurs. They still hadn’t explicitly said which dinosaurs he would be working with, so Barry was just showing him the main ones. His eyes landed on an exhibit that was different from the others. The walls were much shorter, with a metal catwalk around most of it, and there was a thick wire coming out of the exhibit, attached to crane at the other end. “What’s this one? It doesn’t look like it’s connected to the park.”

Barry looked in the direction that Owen was looking. Once he realized what exhibit the other man was looking at, he smiled. “Ah, well that would be our newest addition, though it is only a temporary holding tank, so it’s not connected to the park.”

“Temporary holding tank for what exactly?” he said, his brows furrowed.

“A Mosasaurus,” he said nonchalantly, “would you like to see?” He gestured for Owen to go on ahead.

They climbed up the metal steps to the catwalk along the edge of the pool. Once they reached the top, Owen could see that there were multiple people along the catwalk and all of them were focused on the water. He looked around and he could see a large dark shadow in the water. It swam into the shallows, and his eyes widened when he saw a woman wearing a chainmail wetsuit standing in the shallow water.

(Y/N)’s eyes were focused on Mango. She had one hand placed at the surface of the water with a syringe in the other. She groaned loudly as Mango passed by her, just barely brushing her fingertips. Today was one of those days that (Y/N) could tell Mango was being sassy and spoiled, not wanting to do something as boring as a blood sample.

After spending almost 24/7 with Mango for the last week and a half, because she would cry constantly at (Y/N)’s absence, (Y/N) could now read her mood almost instantly.

(Y/N) yelled out, “I swear if you don’t let me take this sample I will stop giving you mangos for the rest of your life!” Mango continued on her way, deaf to the threat.

Barry laughed, walking closer towards were (Y/N) was in the water.  She turned around in surprise, but when she saw Barry, her face softened into a friendly smile. “You wouldn’t last twenty-four hours before you caved and she knows it,” Barry stated, grinning.

(Y/N)’s features quickly changed to one of irritation, knowing that it was true. She had a large soft spot when it came to Mango. “Shut up, Barry.” Before turning back to Mango, her eyes landed on Owen, who was looking out over the pool. ‘ _Well hello there hottie,_ ’ she thought, but then suddenly became aware that she must look absolutely terrible. Owen turned his attention back towards her and their eyes locked briefly before she ripped them way, blushing at having been caught staring.  She focused back on the job at hand, and missed his smirk.

Owen studied her. Her hair was pulled back out of her face, and he could see a light pink tint on her cheeks. She seemed comfortable with the situation, yet still wary of the large creature in the tank with her. He was definitely interested to see her training techniques, but also somewhat interested in just her.

Fully aware that all eyes were now on her, (Y/N) slapped the water in front of her before placing her left hand at the surface of the water once again. She sent a silent prayer that Mango would behave and let her take the sample. Mango’s form slowly approached, her large head breaking the surface to look at her surrogate mother. Taking a breath, Mango’s head submerged and once close enough, she lifted her front left flipper out of the water and placed it in (Y/N)’s hand. “Thank you,” (Y/N) said softly with a smile on her lips. It only took a minute to find the right vain and collect the blood sample. (Y/N) patted Mango’s flipper to announce she was finished. She could feel vibrations in the water around her from Mango’s ‘purr’ before Mango swam off to the other side of the pool.

Turning around, (Y/N) walked towards Barry. “Hey Barry, would you mind?” She held out the syringe towards him.

He had turned back around to face her with a mango in hand. “Not at all.” and traded the syringe for the mango.

“Thanks.” She shot him a smile before throwing the mango as far as she could across the pool. She glanced at the mystery man out of the corner of her eye. His arms were crossed and his feet were spread slightly in a way that hinted he’d been in the military at some point. He had light brown wavy hair and stubble on his face that gave him a ruggedly handsome look.

Owen watched intensely as this large creature created a wake toward the floating mango. Its jaws opened wide, showing a top row of sharp teeth before it shut its jaws on the mango with a splash. 

Now that Mango had finished her treat, (Y/N) turned to look at Barry. “So Barry, who’s your friend?”

Before Barry could answer, Owen yelled, “Watch out!” pointing at Mango as she headed straight towards (Y/N).

(Y/N) turned around to see Mango 5 feet away swimming right towards her, but at the last second, the mosasaur turned to connect her flipper to (Y/N)’s stomach. (Y/N) held her breath before being submerged. It only took a few seconds for Mango to drag her a good 50 feet before (Y/N) could roll off and come to the surface.

Owen panicked as the dinosaur dragged her into deeper water, but was relieved momentarily when her head broke the surface. “We’ve got to get her out of there!” He looked around, trying to figure out some way to get her out. No one else was reacting and he didn’t see anything close by to help, ‘ _Shit._ ’ He was about to jump in when a hand pulled on his shoulder to stop him. He turned and faced Barry, giving him an angry scowl.

Barry put his other hand up. “Just wait. You would only do more harm to yourself if you jumped in.” Owen looked back out to her swimming at the surface with the large shadow nearby her, knowing he couldn’t do anything.

Mango had turned around and was swimming close to (Y/N). She had a look of playfulness about her. ‘ _I was trying to talk to a hot guy!_ ’ (Y/N) inwardly huffed in annoyance.  Mango lifted up her front flipper and slammed it against the surface splashing (Y/N) in the face. ‘ _So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?_ ’ (Y/N) thought as she pushed the stray pieces of hair out of her face. Taking a deep breath she jumped on top of Mango’s back, wrapping her arms around the mosasaur’s neck and locked her hands together.

Owen’s eyes widened in surprise and confusion as he watched her jump onto the back of the mosasaur. Had he really just witnessed this woman willing to tackle a nearly 18 foot long predator’s back? The corners of his mouth turned upwards; she was definitely intriguing.

(Y/N) felt Mango’s purr resonate through her body as Mango swam around the enclosure happily. This was one of the things that (Y/N) loved to do with Mango; there were no words to describe the feeling of riding a mosasaur through the water. Her heart clenched a little, knowing that it wouldn’t be much longer before Mango would be too large for her to safely enter the enclosure. As her lungs started to burn from the need of oxygen she tapped Mango’s side; this was the signal to bring them to the surface. As they breached the surface, she took a much needed breath and slid off of Mango’s back, her feet landing on the floor of the pool. (Y/N) smiled, ‘ _That’s_ _nice of her to bring me back to the shallow end._ ’

Owen relaxed once she had surfaced and watched as she pushed her wet hair out of her face. Barry was grinning at her. “Ha ha! That was impressive. I think that was your longest time down so far.” Owen had to agree; he was definitely impressed, but did she do that often?

She smiled up at Barry. “I haven’t been keeping track.” Mango bumped her leg and, knowing what she wanted, (Y/N) reached down and scratched behind and slightly below her jaw bone. Mango’s eyes closed and (y/n) felt her purr vibrating the water again. Looking back towards Owen, she gave him a smile. “Sorry for the interruption, but it is very nice to meet you Mr. Watch Out,” she said teasingly.

Owen raised an eyebrow at her cheeky nickname and he smirked back at her, “Nice to meet you Miss Daring Trainer.”

Her smile changed into a small frown. “I am not a trainer.” She tapped gently where she had been petting as the signal that she was done, and Mango swam on her way. (Y/N) turned and headed to the ladder.

 “You certainly look like one,” he said as she walked back towards them.

“That’s only from necessity. I am first and foremost a scientist.” To avoid looking at him, she grabbed the sample out of the cooler and labeled it with the date and time before placing it back in. Picking up the clipboard that was next to the cooler, she turned around and headed down the steps.

Owen followed after her, with Barry not far behind him. “Necessity?”

With an exaggerated sigh she handed off the cooler to one of her assistants, then turned to face him directly. “She imprinted on me and won’t listen or eat from anyone else. So yes, it was necessary for me to do some training to insure that our relationship is healthy.” She raised an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips, letting him know that she wasn’t afraid to fight back.

“Calm down there feisty.” His hands went up in defense. “I didn’t mean to offend you. You could use a few pointers on your technique, but I don’t know many people that would go in with crocosaurus over there, let alone try and train it.”

She shook her head at the half compliment but had a small smile. “ _She_ is a Mosasaurus and I have done very well in training her, since she is only a week and a half old.”

“What!” Owen stared at her and pointed back to the pool. “You’re telling me that thing – I mean, she’s not even two weeks old?”

“That’s what I said.” She smiled teasingly. “Weren’t you listening?”

Barry chuckled. “Give him a chance (Y/N), he is new here.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” She grinned back at Barry, but he just gave her a look. “Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “You know I don’t like playing nice.”

Owen smiled at that before she turned her attention back to him. “(Y/N) Sattler.” She stuck out her hand. “Mosasaurus scientist, director, and trainer.” She forced out that last word.

He shook her hand. “Owen Grady, new dinosaur trainer and behaviorist.” His eyes sparkled, his smile shone, and his voice rang with a light and playful tone, “I can show you some training techniques sometime.”

She reflected his look of playfulness. “You would like that, wouldn’t you Mr. Grady?” Before he could make a comeback, she turned around and left. Yelling over her shoulder, “See you around Barry.”

“See ya.” Barry turned, heading away from Mango’s pool and leaving Owen, who was still watching her walk away. “Right, time to see some of the other exhibits now.”

Owen fell in step behind Barry with a smile on his face. Maybe working here was going to be more fun than he previously thought.


	7. Failed Date Night

(Y/N) sat staring at the page in front of her, chewing mindlessly on her pen. The bellows of Mango flowed into her ears from the headphones, drowning out all other sounds. Mango’s shadow passed over her, coming in from the underwater viewing window set up in her lab. Looking up, (Y/N) smiled as Mango looked in at her curiously before continuing on her way. She turned her attention back to the page. She hadn’t written anything in 30 minutes. Sighing, she tried to focus her thoughts back on work again. The door to the lab opened up and Eliana walked in with a frown on her face. (Y/N) didn’t notice, twiddling the pen in her fingers and glaring at the page, willing the words to form on their own.

“(Y/N) , I have been texting you for twenty-five minutes.” Eliana sounded frustrated at her friend. When no answer came she walked over with one hand on her hip, and lifted up the headphone with the other. “Earth to (Y/N)!”

(Y/N) jolted in surprise, glaring at Eliana. “Hey, what was that for?!”

“You haven’t been answering your phone. I was trying to see if you wanted to grab lunch.”

Frowning (Y/N) looked down at her watch, ‘ _Was it that late already?_ ’ She stood up and put away the headphones and papers. “I’m sorry El, I couldn’t hear it with the headphones in.”

Eliana crossed her arms and watched her friend. “Mhmm, I think you were distracted with thoughts of a certain dino trainer.” (Y/N) froze and Eliana smiled broadly at her.

(Y/N) walked out of the room and down the hall, now trying to avoid Eliana’s implications even if they were true. “Actually I was pondering a difficult question,” she said as she unlocked the door to her small apartment.

“Yeah, which one was it this time? How did I fall in love with Owen or how do I express my feelings of attraction?” Eliana continued to tease as she followed (Y/N) into her apartment.

Rolling her eyes, (YN) looked back at her friend with fake frustration. “Why must you keep harassing me on this?”

“Because it’s true,” she said as she sat down on her couch. “You’ve told me almost every encounter that you have with him. From the sounds of it, you both flirt with each other, so why not just ask him to dinner?”

(Y/N) saw Mango pass by the underwater viewing windows in her apartment as she headed into her room to change into something more comfortable for the hot weather outside. “Well… because…” she paused, trying to come up with some form of defense.

“Exactly. You have no reason not too, so just do it.” (Y/N) heard from the other room.

Emerging from her room ready to go to lunch, (Y/N) grabbed her wallet and keys and held the door open for Eliana. “What if he says no? It would be awkward after that.”

“And what if he says yes? Then you guys would become the second cutest couple on this island… after Barry and me of course,” Eliana said, walking by with a coy smile.

(Y/N) smiled but shook her head – part of her knew El was right. She waved to Mango, who was staring at her from the window, and then locked the door.

~

Five hours later, (Y/N) was removing the top part of her wetsuit. She had just finished checking a section of the fence that separated Mango and the tourists. She was putting away her dive gear, so she didn’t notice Owen walking up to her.

“I thought you weren’t getting in the water with her anymore.”

Finished putting way the last of her gear, she faced him. “I’m not. I was on the other side of the fence.”

“Still petting her?” he walked up to the fence looking out over the water.

“On occasion.” She joined him at the railing. Owen had been helping her over the last week to get Mango to be more independent while still ‘trained’ enough to do shows. “Only when she starts pushing the bars near me more forcefully. Petting her seems to calm her down some.”

Owen watched her out of his peripheral vision with a small smile, and nodded in understanding. The hardest part of this was getting (Y/N) to stop giving into Mango when the dinosaur demanded attention. Though he understood that (Y/N) gave in because she was fearful of what Mango would do if she didn’t. He enjoyed the days that he got to work with her; they always made his week better.

(Y/N) turned to face him with a raised eyebrow and a playful smile. “So, why did the great Mr. Grady decide to grace us with his presence this evening?”

Pretending to not hear her teasing jab of ‘Mr. Grady’, since she knew he didn’t like it, he smirked. “You think I’m great?”

“Eh.” she shrugged, eyes sparkling mischievously. “There are those very, very brief moments.”

“You wound me (Y/N).” He clutched his hand over his heart, but his eyes were still playful.

A light laugh left her lips, which made his heart lighten. “That would be quite an accomplishment on my part. But really, what’s up?”

He chuckled at her comment, not daring to admit, even to himself, that his heart could be easily wounded by her. “El told me that you needed my help with something Mango was doing.”

‘ _Damn it El. When you said you were going to give me a chance to talk to him, you could have given me a heads up._ ’ Quickly thinking of something she could use since she saw Owen looking at her questioningly. “Uh, yeah. The reason I was checking the fence today is because I’ve observed Mango patrolling the fence more and more. She almost seemed antsy or agitated, and I thought it might have something to do with the people on the beach. Once I get in the water though, she seemed to calm down.” She turned to look out at Mango swimming in her enclosure. Management had ignored her concerns about allowing the tourists back in the water so soon after placing Mango in her final home, they thought it would be more ‘beneficial’ to the parks revenue if the resort had the beach access.

One reason (Y/N) and Owen got along so well was that they shared views on respecting the capabilities of these ancient creatures. (Y/N) had the knowledge of what happens when you don’t respect the terrifying ability of these dinosaurs and was trying to make sure it didn’t happen again.

“I can come by sometime this week and we’ll figure it out.” He gave her a warm smile.

In moments like this, (Y/N) could tell that his flirtatious comments were a cover and he did have a kind heart. It made her stomach flutter with butterflies. “Thanks Owen.” She smiled back – until her stomach growled. Her face reddened with embarrassment.

There was silence between them. (Y/N) mentally cursed out her stomach while Owen tried to keep from laughing. She opened her mouth to speak but her stomach interrupted her again. Owen couldn’t hold it in any longer and let out a deep, hearty laugh.

“It’s not that funny!” (Y/N) glared up at him, but her heart tightened hearing his laugh. It fit him perfectly, and she wished she could hear it more often.

Owen managed to pull himself together and held up a hand, still grinning. “Yeah, it kind of was.”

Her glare softened. “Right,” she said, drawing out the word for emphasis. This was going to be her best chance, might as well try. She gathered up her courage and asked, “well do you want to grab some dinner then? Since my stomach is being so demanding.” She tried to play it off as much as she could.

“I would love too.” He watched as her face lit up and cursed himself for accepting Barry’s blind date. “But I actually have a date tonight.” Owen felt terribly guilty when she looked disappointed. He had been hoping that his date was going to be with her. She was the one person on this island that he could really be himself around, yet for being known as a lady’s man, he couldn’t bring himself to ask her out.

“Oh,” it came out softer and more disappointed than (Y/N) had meant it to. Her heart tightened painfully at his comment. Had she missed her chance? She forced a smile, trying hard to act normal. “Who’s the unlucky girl?”

Owen let out an uncomfortable chuckle and scratched the back of his head. “I, uh, don’t actually know. It’s a blind date, Barry set it up.”

‘ _Barry,_ ’ she inwardly growled at her friend. Trying not to sound pissed off, she let out a small dry laugh. “You might want to take a shower before your date. I think she and your coworkers would appreciate that.”

“I take one every night.” He raised a playful eyebrow at her.

“Where? In the swamp behind your bungalow?” Her teasing smile returned.

“Only before coming to visit you.” He smirked back at her. He turned and leaned his hip against the railing, looking her up and down. Her wetsuit was still on, but only up to her hips. Her bikini top matched her eyes, and her slowly drying hair was being lightly curl by the humidity. “You going to dinner like that?”

Her cheeks felt hot from his comment and his looks. To stop him from seeing her blush, she looked down at her ‘outfit’ and did a little spin to help cool off her face. She didn’t realize that this would give him a better ‘view’ of her, though he thought it was very cute. “Yeah, I was thinking that this was very fitting to go eat in.”

“I would pay to see that.” He smiled at her, no doubt in his mind that she would if she could.

“Damn, I needed some extra cash,” she returned his smile as she continued to tease him. “Too bad that you have a date tonight.”

“Maybe next time,” he said hopefully.

“Yeah, maybe next time,” she agreed with a small smile. “You better go so you can still get your swamp shower in.”

“Right.” He waved as he turned to leave. “See you later (Y/N).”

“Later Owen,” she said, returning the wave.

Both left with their hearts a little heavier.

~

(Y/N) sat on her bed drying off her hair from her shower and watching Mango swim lazily past her underwater window. She hadn’t stopped thinking about her last conversation with Owen. She was starting to over-think every detail, especially how she messed up by asking him to dinner. Right after he left, she had raced back to her room to call Eliana, except that Eliana was out on a date with Barry and didn’t pick up. She checked her phone, hopeful that maybe Eliana had texted her back. There was a text, but not from Eliana.

Groaning, she opened the text, which was from Lowery. It read: Heeey, (Y/N). I was wondering if you wanted to go grab a bite at Margaritaville? I have an hour dinner break starting at 6:30.

She flopped back on her bed. Normally, meeting with Lowery was a bit awkward since he always wanted to hear stories about the first park. That and her suspicions had been confirmed by Eliana that he liked her. But a drink did sound nice, and all her other friends were out on dates. ‘ _What the hell._ ’ She lifted up her phone and replied: Sure, why not. I’ll meet you there.

Locking her phone, she got up to finish getting ready to go out, though didn’t bother with anything too fancy. She opened up her closet and looked at her clothes with a slight frown. Being a field biologist, most of her clothes weren’t really considered ‘nice’. But she found a nice v-neck black t-shirt and pulled out a light pair of skinny jeans. She hoped that this outfit wouldn’t give Lowery the wrong idea, because she really didn’t want to lead him on. Her phone buzzed and she looked at the text: Awesome. See you there. ;)

She rolled her eyes at the winking emoji.

Glancing at the clock, she noted she had 30 minutes to be there, but thankfully it only took 10 minutes to walk there if she was slow. She finished getting ready and waved to Mango before she headed over. By the time she made it there, she was still 10 minutes early, and decided to go ahead and order her favorite drink while she waited for Lowery to show up.

~

Owen walked towards the main information building. Barry had told him that’s where he would meet his date. He wasn’t sure why Barry was keeping her name from him, but part of him no longer cared who it was, since he knew it wasn’t (Y/N). He thought back on how he got dragged into this. Barry had asked him a few days ago if he had any plans for the weekend, but Owen’s only plans were to work on his motorcycle. Barry commented that he always worked and that he needed a break, so he had set up this blind date.

He ran a hand through his hair when he got close to the front of the building. He had taken (Y/N)'s advice and taken a shower. He couldn’t get her out of his head, though. The slight pink on her cheeks as she twirled in front of him pulled on his heart more than he cared to admit.

He shook his thoughts away from (Y/N) as he walked up the front steps, but stopped when he saw Claire standing there looking at her watch. ‘ _No, Barry please tell me you didn’t set me up with her._ ’

Claire looked up at him curiously. “Mr. Grady, what are you doing here?”

Not really wanting to answer that question out loud, he turned it around. “Better question is, what are you still doing here?” He knew that she didn’t live on the island like most of the staff.

She shifted her weight uncomfortably. “Well if you must know, I am waiting for my date to arrive.” She looked past him, but as he continued to stand there her eyes returned to him. “You’ve got to be kidding me, you’re my date?” She asked, incredulous.

“Don’t look so surprised.” He crossed his arms and tried to remain as polite as possible.

“Right.” She pulled open her purse and handed him a sheet of paper.

“What’s this?” He glanced at her, questioning. Then he read it. “Wait, you’ve scheduled everything out?”

“I’m an organized person.” She glanced at him as she walked past. “Come on we are already late.”

His brows furrowed in confusion and irritation. “Late? I’m still five minutes early.”

She just sighed and continued to walk in front of him down Main Street. “Yes, but our reservation is for seven. I’d rather not keep them waiting. I’ve been told that they are always super busy.”

Owen wasn’t surprised when Margaritaville came into view, but he wasn’t prepared for what or who he saw through the window. (Y/N) was sitting across from one of the tech guys at a high top table. His heart sank as he watched her laugh at something the other man was saying, and what made it even worse was that she looked beautiful. Her hair was partially falling into her face while she was laughing, and her outfit was stunning. He frowned, jealousy making his blood boil. Closing his eyes briefly, he took a few calming breaths and unclenched his fists. He had turned down her dinner request, even if he hadn’t wanted to. So at least she was having a good time. But somewhere in the back of his mind there was a little voice, ‘ _It should be you making her laugh. She should be with you._ ’ He could no longer deny that he liked (Y/N).

He heard Claire’s voice through his jealous thoughts. “I need to talk to Lowery for a moment before we are seated, do you mind?”

He looked to where she was pointing at the man across the table from (Y/N). With a sly smile he replied, “Not at all. Lead the way.”

~

Tears threatened to spill from (Y/N)’s eyes as she laughed with Lowery. She wouldn’t have imagined that Claire could mess up that badly with a potential client; maybe something had thrown off her groove. (Y/N) had to admit that it wasn’t actually that funny, but she might also have had one too many drinks.

The two of them stopped laughing briefly when Claire walked up. Lowery paled, and (Y/N) knew he was thinking that Claire heard him, which only made her start laughing again.

“What’s so funny?” Claire asked, an eyebrow raised.

All (Y/N) could do was bury her head in her arms and try to calm down. Lowery glanced at (Y/N) for help, but when he realized he wouldn’t get any, he gulped. “Uh, nothing. What are you still doing here?”

“She’s with me.” Owen came around Claire to stand in front of the high top.

(Y/N) immediately stopped laughing when she recognized his voice, praying that he really wasn’t on a date with Claire. She lifted her head and instantly regretted it. He smirked at her and there was a look in his eyes, making her stomach turn. The tint on her cheeks from the alcohol definitely darkened a shade or two as she looked at him. His shirt was fitted, showing off his muscles, but he still looked comfortable. She frowned as she noticed how close he was standing next to Claire. The tears that were once for laugher where now sadness, anger and jealousy, and threatened to spill again. Trying hard to hide her jealousy towards the red-head, she smiled back at him.

Her attention turned to her phone as it buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out, since Claire was talking work with Lowery and she didn’t want to look at Owen at the moment. El had finally texted her back. It read: OMGOSH GIRLY! L I’m so sorry (Y/N)! I’m headed over to your apartment now. I’ll be there in 15!

(Y/N)  hid her relieved smile and looked up at Lowery with as serious of a face as she could muster while tipsy. “Lowery, I’m so sorry about this but I’ve got to run. I just got a text from one of my assistants that he somehow locked himself into the walk-in freezer. I have to go get him out before he gets hypothermia. Do you mind paying? I can pay you back-”

“Don’t worry about it.” He smiled warmly. “Go rescue the poor kid.”

“Thanks!” She smiled back at him. “Claire. Owen.” She smiled at both of them, but her emotions were overflowing at seeing them together. She ran out as fast as she could and felt the tears flow down her face once the door closed behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you have enjoyed up to this point! I am currently in the process of writing the next chapter so I will try my best to have it posted by next Sunday! (That will be my day for posting!)


	8. Hooked on Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am terribly sorry for not being able to post this yesterday! It has just been a super busy week for me getting ready for grad school.  
> This upcoming Sunday I will be traveling, so my goal is to get the chapter posted on Friday. Hopefully I will make my goal, but if not it will be posted around Monday/Tuesday.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter! :3
> 
> Blue Swede - Hooked on a Feeling - lyrics from B.J. Thomas

Laura sat on her floor with papers spread out around her in an organized mess. Her computer and headset were on the coffee table behind her, she could barely hear the sounds through the speakers. She stared at the paper in her hands as if it was the most complex thing in the world. In reality, her mind had drifted off again to the reason she had this extra work to finish on her ‘day off’:

Two nights ago, Eliana knocked on the door to find it open and Laura curled up in a ball, crying in front of Mango’s window because of the events that afternoon, plus a few drinks. El coerced Laura onto the couch with kind words and ice cream. Once Laura was settled with a carton of death by chocolate, she spilled everything to El, from asking Owen to dinner, to meeting him at dinner. Eliana tried to calm her, and said it wasn’t as bad as Laura was making it out to be, since Laura was emotionally compromised by the alcohol. Laura denied that she was drunk even after El had to help her to bed. The next morning she had the worst headache and had to take the morning off, leading to her extra work on her day off that weekend.

Laura sighed, resting her head back on the table and staring at the ceiling. Thankfully, El had managed to find out exactly why Barry had paired Owen with Claire. He apparently thought that they both worked too much and needed a break. Yet here she was on another day off, working on her research. Why hadn’t he considered her? She was constantly working with Mango and never really had any real breaks, other than when El stole her away to get lunch or something.

The room darkened as Mango swam close to her window, peering into the living room to see Laura. Laura heard the speakers emit Mango’s quizzical call, causing the headphones to vibrate on the table. A warm smile appeared; she had been listening to Mango’s calls for weeks now and could tell how she was feeling from the different sounds she made. It was Mango’s form of communication to her. She had been pondering for some time whether mosasaurs communicated through sounds similar to whales. Unfortunately, Laura would never be able to find out.

Laura sat upright and smiled brightly as she and Mango made eye contact. “You don’t like to see me all down in the dumps, do you girl?”

The headphones emitted Mango’s ‘reply’, since Laura was still unsure if Mango could hear or feel the vibrations of her speech through the glass.

“Alright then.” She stood up and headed toward her stereo. “I think it’s time for a little pick me up.”  There was another vibration from the headphones from Mango. Laura’s eyes scanned over the songs on her ipod, but stopped when she found the perfect one to play. She pressed play and turned up the volume:

 _Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga_  
_Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga_  
_Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga_  
_Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga_  
_Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga_

           

Laura turned around toward Mango with a pretend microphone in her hands while actually singing the lyrics. She danced around the room in front of the window to Mango’s interest and happiness.

  
_I can't stop this feeling_  
_Deep inside of me_  
_Girl, you just don't realize_  
_What you do to me_  


Laura was so drawn into the song as her own feelings were released that she didn’t noticed that she had changed from singing ‘girl’ to ‘boy’.

  
_When you hold me_  
_In your arms so tight_  
_You let me know_  
_Everything's all right_  
  
_I'm hooked on a feeling_  
_I'm high on believing_  
_That you're in love with me_  
  
_Lips as sweet as candy_  
_Its taste is on my mind_  
_Girl, you got me thirsty_  
_For another cup o' wine_  
  
_Got a bug from you girl_  
_But I don't need no cure_  
_I'll just stay a victim_  
_If I can for sure_  


She continued dancing around her living room, even after she had vaguely noticed that Mango swam off.

  
_All the good love_  
_When we're all alone_  
_Keep it up girl_  
_Yeah, you turn me on_  


_I'm hooked on a feeling_  
_I'm high on believing_  
_That you're in love with me_  
  
_All the good love_  
_When we're all alone_  
_Keep it up girl_  
_Yeah, you turn me on_

 

There was a knock on her door, however, the music was so loud that she didn’t hear it. Laura was so entranced with music that it kept her from hearing Owen open the door.

  
_I'm hooked on a feeling_  
_I'm high on believing_  
_That you're in love with me_  
  
_I'm hooked on a feeling_  
_And I'm high on believing_  
_That you're in love with me_  
  
_I said I'm hooked on a feeling_  
_And I'm high on believing_  
_That you're in love with me_  
_I'm hooked on a feeling_

 

The song ended and Laura felt that eyes were watching her, but she could see Mango wasn’t at the window anymore. She turned around and saw that Owen was leaning against the door frame with amusement in his eyes and that obnoxiously sexy smirk on his lips. Her cheeks got hot as the realization of Owen witnessing her dancing and singing hit. She was very thankful that her face was already pink from dancing around the room.

Owen watched as she quickly scrambled to turn off the music and try to compose herself. He couldn’t deny that he enjoyed watching her dance, and her voice was as lovely as she was – plus her outfit was definitely working for him. She was wearing a long sleeve shirt that was a few sizes too big and it flowed around her and slid down her shoulders as she danced. Her shorts were just visible under the long hem, giving him a nice view of her legs as she had danced. Part of him wondered who the ‘boy’ was that she was singing about, since he knew that wasn’t the word in the song. He really hoped it wasn’t that tech guy.

Laura pushed a few stray strands of hair from her face as she looked at Owen in her apartment doorway. “So, uh, what brings you to my apartment, Owen?” she asked with a shy smile, pretending that he hadn’t just witnessed her dancing around like an idiot.

Owen smiled warmly at her, though his eyes still sparkled with something Laura couldn’t quite place. “I told you I would come by this week to check on Mango.” He pointed towards her lab. “Your lab rats told me that I could find you here. Though I wasn’t expecting that delightful show.”

“Yes, well… obviously you have never heard of knocking, and Mango appears to feel and enjoy the vibrations from the music.” She looked at him with a serious face, really not wanting to linger on her making a fool of herself.

“I did knock, though I doubt you could have heard it over the music and killer moves,” he said with a playful smile on his lips.

Her stomach flipped at his compliment and she started to pick at the ends of her sleeves. “Right…” she said softly with a warm smile, “well are you going to just stand there all day, or are you going to come in?”

 “You sure I won’t be interrupting anything? You look like you’re dressed for company,” he teased.

“I am always dressed to impress, Owen. You should know that by now.” She winked at him, but then started fixing her hair, which was a mess after dancing.

He chuckled and closed the door behind him. The floor plan was open, and he could see the pile of papers spread across the floor. He looked around the room and noticed a photograph of Laura with an older man and woman. The man looked familiar, but before he could place why he recognized the man, Laura gained his attention as she walked past him to the kitchen.

“Feel free to sit anywhere and move any chairs you need too.” As she went around the counter she looked back at him. “Do you want anything to drink? I have water, coke or milk.”

“Coke is fine.” He had to force himself to take his eyes off of her. He found a chair and moved closer to the window so he could see more of Mango’s enclosure. As he sat down, Laura came over and handed him the cool drink. “Thanks Laura.”

“You’re welcome.” She sat back down in the midst of her paper pile and picked up a paper while taking a sip of her drink.

He looked at her curiously. “What are you doing?”

She looked up from her paper. “I’m going through the data that we have collected from Mango. There is a lot and I’m always getting more, so I try to stay as on top of it as I can. Which is why I normally do a bit even on my day off, like today.”

He nodded in understanding, then took a sip of his coke and watched Mango at the other side of the lagoon. A comfortable silence washed over them.

After 30 minutes Laura had completed a fair amount of her work without really getting distracted by her thoughts. She decided to take a short 10 minute break before focusing on her research again. Her lips curled up into a small smile as she noticed Owen watching Mango at the edge of her lagoon. Although her smile faded when her thoughts drifted back to dinner at Margaritaville. ‘ _Why did it have to be her as his date? I wonder how it went… with my luck probably amazing and they are now together._ ’ Her shoulders slumped and her heart clenched at the thought of Claire and Owen together. ‘ _Well, there is only one way to find out for sure. I have to ask him._ ’ The idea was so simple, but carrying it out was daunting. Her resolve hardened; she had to know. But what was a good way of going about it? After thinking for a few moments, she had a semi cunning plan.

She stood up and walked over to him with her own empty coke bottle. “Are you done with your drink?” She tilted her head slightly.

Laura’s voice broke Owen’s concentration and surprised him from the closeness of it. He turned towards her with a confused look as her words registered. “Oh, uh, yes thanks.”

Chuckling at his half expected reaction, she smiled. “No problem.” As she walked back towards the kitchen she decided to just ask. “Oh right. How was your date with Claire?”

Owen groaned as he remembered that damn mistake of a date. “Terrible,” he said flatly. The best part of the night was seeing Laura, but the worst was seeing her with that tech guy. He tried to come up with some way to ask her about their relationship.

Laura was internally screaming with joy, but she still felt bad for him. “Sorry to hear that, what happened?” Her voice was full of concern, though she wasn’t that sorry to hear it.

He turned around in the chair to face her and scratched his cheek in thought “Where do I even start… Ah, I know. She had a pre-planned itinerary for the night and would start to freak out if we didn’t stick to it. It pretty much went downhill after that.”

Laura placed her hand over her mouth, trying to contain her laughter. She managed to calm down enough to talk. “Let me guess, you tried to mess up her schedule as much as possible. Am I right?” she teased him as she sat down on her couch, facing him.

“Only after I wasn’t allowed to order tequila.” He figured this was his best chance of figuring out about that tech guy. “You looked like you were having fun at dinner with Larry, was it.”

“You mean Lowery?” She furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why he would bring him up. “It was nice, once I got him to stop asking about my parents…”

Owen wondered why the tech guy would be asking about her parents. Obviously, there was something he didn’t know about her, and he really wanted to ask. When he looked at her though, her eyes pleaded with him not to ask. She must have wanted whatever this secret was to stay that way. He hoped she would tell him eventually. “Then what were you laughing your ass off about when we stopped at your table?”

She thanked him with her eyes for not pressing her about her parents. She was going to tell him at some point, but from her experience, most people only ever wanted to meet her parents, or get to know their stories. For a long time when she was in school, kids used to become her ‘friends’ just to hear the stories or meet her parents. So she decided that they weren’t genuine friends, and stopped telling people. “Well, I was a bit tipsy, but Lowery told me about how Claire had messed up something at work. So that was funny by itself, but then Claire showed up, Lowery freaked out, and that just made it priceless.”

A low, guttural growl emitted from her computer at that moment, making Laura look to the window. Her stomach clenched as she recognized the growl and saw that Mango was looking straight at Owen. ‘ _Oh no._ ’

Owen noticed how her eyes widened in fear, and followed her gaze. Mango was staring right at him. She opened her jaws to show her teeth. Owen froze. He could recognize animal behaviors from his work in the navy. Most of the time, this display was an aggressive or dominant behavior the animals displayed to others. This was no different, so why was Laura so fearful?

Laura had to do something; she knew that this was Mango’s warning display, but it was lasting too long. Mango had done it to all of the lab assistants she had, but it normally only lasted a minute before Mango deemed them a non-threat. She stood up and got in-between Mango and Owen. The sound briefly stopped emitting from the computer, and Mango looked down at her. The sound came out higher. She smiled warmly at Mango and placed her hand on the glass. Mango looked back at Owen and gave a short, low growl before swimming off again. Laura wondered if Mango was ‘protecting’ her in some way.

“That was impressive,” Owen said as he stood up to stand next to her, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

She blushed at his compliment. “Was it? I didn’t do anything though.” She looked up at him, their proximity finally registered in her mind, and suddenly she couldn’t think of anything else.

He looked down at her with a warm smile and moved a strand of hair off her face. “It was. You calmed her down in less than a minute.”

Their eyes were locked together, and she was frozen. She barely picked up what he said as her mind raced to find meaning behind his actions. Was it her imagination or was he getting closer to her?

A phone ringing broke the hold that they had over one another. Owen groaned and silently cursed his phone for going off. He leaned back and took it out of his pocket. “Do you mind?”

Laura shook her head, unable to use her voice at the moment.

“Hello,” Owen answered. “Yes sir, this is him.” His eyes widened. “Yes, I understand. – Thank you sir, I greatly appreciate it. – Goodbye sir.”

Laura gave him a questioning glace when he hung up.

“Sorry Laura, but I have to go get some paperwork…” He gave her a small smile. “But I can try to come back sometime soon to help with Mango.”

She returned his smile. “It’s fine, I’m not keeping you here. Though next time, I would appreciate a bit of heads up when you’re coming over,” she said playfully. She wasn’t quite sure where it came from, but it felt like she had been on autopilot since he touched her hair.

He grinned teasingly. “Where’s the fun in that?”

After he left, she flopped down on her couch to figure out what the hell just happened between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Update: Sorry guys for not posting the next chapter yet. I have been super busy traveling for graduate school and having to get everything for that. Unfortunately that means that I haven't had time to finish the chapter yet. I will do my best to getting it to you by this weekend.


	9. Bad Day?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am terribly sorry for being so behind on posting this chapter!! I just have had a lot going on this last few weeks with moving to another country and starting school. Hopefully I will get into a rhythm with school and stuff to where I will be posting more frequently. Until then I greatly appreciate you guys tolerating a weird posting schedule for a bit.
> 
> I tried to make this chapter extra long since it has been a while and there is a little something something at the end for all you since you have stuck with me!
> 
> Thanks again everyone! I hope you enjoy!

It had been weeks since Owen had been over at Laura’s place. She had only seen him in passing a few times and he still hadn’t come back to help with Mango. Laura was starting to think that maybe she had done something wrong, until she ran into him four days ago. He looked really exhausted and had apologized to her for not being able to come back. He promised to make it up to her, though he didn’t get a chance to tell her why he was so busy before he had to run off again.

Laura walked into the coffee shop to order her favorite muffin as a snack, since it was late in the afternoon. However, before she could get in line, Lowery spotted her as he was leaving. She noticed as he got closer that he had a nervous smile as he approached her; she hoped it wasn’t because he was going to try and ask her out.

“Oh hey Laura,” he swallowed, “can I talk to you?”

‘ _Oh no. Please don’t ask me out! I really don’t want to hurt your feelings._ ’ Laura collected herself and gave him a quick polite smile. “Sure.”

He looked around at the people nearby, only acting more nervous. “Why don’t we go somewhere a bit more private?”

That wasn’t like him, he always wanted to be were others were. She figured he felt more comfortable in less personal situations. Figuring something had to be wrong, she gave him a concerned look, “Lowery, is everything okay?”

“Uh,” he pushed up his glasses and looked away from her. He walked toward the door and held it open for her, “This way.”

His response didn’t make her feel any better, and her stomach began to tie in knots, but she followed him. They found a secluded spot off of the main tourist areas, and she decided it was time for him to start talking. “Okay Lowery, what the hell is going on?” she crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a stern look.

He just looked away, struggling to spill whatever was troubling him. If he was having second thoughts about telling her, she couldn’t let that happen. She softened her voice and tried again, “Lowery?”

His shoulders lowered in defeat and he turned to look at her. “When we first met you asked me all sorts of questions…” he paused and looked around nervously again.

“I remember,” she said to encourage him to keep going.

“…why did you ask about the raptors?”

Her stomach started to tighten even worse than before, almost to the point of pain. “You know why.” A deep frown was her only expression, “Why are you bringing this up now?” He was silent, but his eyes told her everything she needed to know. “No…they didn’t. Please tell me they didn’t!” Fear and anger caused her to yell at him.

“Sorry,” Lowery just looked sadly back at her.

‘ _They really don’t learn anything!_ ’ She raked her hands through her hair and tried to get her emotions back under control. After a few moments, she managed enough control to not lash out at Lowery again. She had to get more information. Hopefully they weren’t hatched yet, and she could talk some sense into the person in charge. “Do you know who authorized the raptors?”

He shook his head. “No. All I know is that they added the paddock to the security list, so it’s fully up and running.”

“Does that mean that the… the raptors are in the paddock?” she dreaded the possible answer to her question.

“They were scheduled to move them today.”

Laura’s mind felt numb. The raptors were being moved, and there were thousands of people on the island. If something went wrong… Her mind kept coming up with worse scenarios. To distract herself, she focused in on something Lowery had said. “What do you mean ‘they’?”

“The trainers and handlers.” He looked slightly less nervous now and more curious as to what she was trying to figure out.

“Do you know who?” She needed to go talk some sense into the idiot that decided having, moving, and apparently trying to train raptors was a smart idea.

“I think I remember the main trainer’s name,” he scratched his chin as he tried to remember. “It was Owen.” He looked proud that he recalled the name, but the look faded as he glanced back at Laura.

Laura’s face went emotionless when Lowery said Owen’s name. The last few weeks of Owen being busier and exhausted now made more sense, since she had been the same way when Mango was a baby. Her heart felt like it was sinking to the bottom of the ocean and being crushed by the pressure. The stories her parents told her about the devastation the raptors left behind all came rushing back. But now Owen was in them. Laura’s voice was barely audible as she told Lowery she had to go. She turned and fled.

~

Laura paced back in forth in front of Mango’s window, while Mango watched her from the lagoon. She had every intention to go straight to Owen and give him a piece of her mind about the raptors. Unfortunately – or fortunately, she wasn’t sure yet – she had just remembered that she had no idea where Owen lived, or where the new paddock was located. “Ugh, he is a fool for working with them!” She rubbed her hands over her face, “But can I blame him?” She considered Mango, who was giving her a quizzical and concerned look. She shook her head, “Why the hell didn’t he talk to me about it!” Her fists clenched and released slowly as she let out shaky breaths. “Because he doesn’t know what shit he is getting himself into, and I hadn’t told him about my parents’ trials on this island. So why would he have talked to me about it…” She sat down by the window with her head bowed as she tried to calm herself. She sighed, “The lure of this place … these creatures are just… too strong to pass up.”

Her cell phone ringtone broke through her frustrated thoughts. With a groan, she pulled it out of her pocket. The ID said it was from one of the lagoon stadiums, ‘ _I wonder what they want._ ’ Grudgingly she answered, “Hello.”

“Thank god we reached you!” The male voice sounded relieved.

“What is this about?” Laura wasn’t in the mood for whatever drama was going on over on the touristy showy side.

“Right… it’s the mosasaur. She is missing and we can’t see her.”

Laura looked up at Mango, who was watching her curiously. “She is in a tank, how can see be missing?” Laura said flatly.

“The show! She is missing the show!” The speaker was getting frantic. “The guests are starting to get restless and control is getting annoyed… Do you see her?”

Laura stifled a chuckled, imagining Claire in the control room, agitated because one of the animals wasn’t adhering to the ‘schedule’. “Yes, why don’t you just cancel –“

Before she could finish, the other voice cut her off, “Great! Could you send her our way? The shark is already in position. Thanks, bye!”

He hung up, and she clenched her fist, she really hated the stadium staff. They thought they could just get her to control Mango to make their lives easier. This wasn’t helping her mood any, but she stood up and looked at Mango directly. She pointed towards the stadium, which was the signal she had used when teaching her where to get food. Mango just continued to eye her and tilt her head.

Laura groaned and pleaded, “Please don’t do this to me today!” Mango made no indication of movement. Laura let out a frustrated growl. “If you're trying to make me feel better, this isn’t helping.”

She stomped out of her apartment and down the hall past the lab. There was a hall for staff that led to the stadium, with windows to the lagoon. Laura could see Mango following her as she made her way to the stadium. Once she made it to the stadium’s underwater viewing window, she pointed up again. Mango swam closer to the surface, but still kept her eyes on Laura.

Laura narrowed her eyes at the aquatic dinosaur, “You better not make me have to go up there!” After Mango made no movement to move closer to the surface Laura clenched her fists. “Fine,” she said through clenched teeth.

She swiped her ID badge to go up the steps to the center platform where the speakers stood, and climbed the five flights of stairs, grumbling the whole way. When she reached the top, she walked out to the edge of the platform, completely ignoring the woman there. She could feel everyone’s eyes on her. Laura saw Mango’s head at the surface looking at her, and she pointed to the dangling shark. Mango sank below the surface and a few moments later, came bursting up to bite the shark.

Laura ignored the cheering from the stands and the voice of the woman through the speaker system behind her. She was just glad this was over, and headed back down the stairs quickly. Her thoughts went back to Owen and the raptors. But she realized her mistake as she exited into the underwater viewing room, which was now filled with people. Laura cursed under her breath for forgetting this part of the ‘show’, and tried to ignore the people in the stands.

Unfortunately, Laura’s bad day wasn’t going to get any better. She could see Mango out of the corner of her eye, following her close to the window. Right before she could swipe through the employee door, the speaker from above grabbed her shoulder. Laura turned around to face the lady. “What now!” she spat out, though she kept her voice quiet so the tourists wouldn’t hear.

The lady’s eyes widened in shock; she clearly hadn’t been expecting to be greeted like that. “Sorry Ms. Sattler, but…” she hesitated. “Ms. Darling just told us to give these guests a little something extra for all the trouble it caused them.”

Laura clenched her teeth, trying to hold back from snapping at this woman. ‘ _How does a dinosaur not applying to a stupid schedule cause any trouble for a stupid tourist?!_ ’ She took a deep breath to try and calm herself down. “What does Claire want me to do about it?” She had to force out Claire’s name.

“To uh,” the speaker gulped, clearly nervous about being the messenger, “answer the guests questions for a bit.”

Laura couldn’t believe that Claire was making her do this, just because Mango didn’t adhere to her ridiculous schedule. She glanced at her watch; it was still going to be at least another hour before Owen might be off work. She turned to Mango, who was watching her with amusement, ‘ _So was this your damn plan all along?_ ’ Mango blinked as if she had read Laura’s thoughts. Laura continued, ‘ _I hate you sometimes, I hope you know that,_ ’ she thought, stifling a small smile. Laura turned back to the woman, “Fine, give me the damn mic.”

~

An hour and a half later, Laura finally finished her work for the day after the guests harassed her about her relationship with Mango. Although she didn’t appreciate all the questions about how she trained Mango, at least the kids showed genuine interest in the mosasaur afterwards.

Walking to her truck, she felt a few cool drops of rain hit her skin, and looked at the large, dark clouds above her. Even though it was the typical afternoon and evening thunderstorm, she felt some peace knowing the sky was in just as much turmoil as she was. She climbed into her car and headed to Owen’s bungalow, using the directions she received from Lowery. Laura was still unclear about exactly how she was going to talk to Owen about the raptors, but she knew that she had too. Her thoughts raced, running through every possible outcome of this confrontation. She didn’t like how most of the scenarios ended.

The rain was coming down harder as Owen’s trailer came into view. When her eyes caught sight of his home, her mind cleared of all thoughts. She stopped the car and walked up the steps to his front door. But just as she was about to knock, all of her emotions hit like rogue wave. Anger, nervousness, hope, fear and more washed over her, and she was frozen to the spot. The raging storm, darkened sky, and general grayness of the world only made her thoughts and mood worse as the rain soaked her to the bone.

Before she made up her mind about what she should do, the door opened. Light and color flooded out from the door, and Owen stood in the middle of it. “Owen,” she breathed. Laura was weirdly relieved to see him, and with her emotions going wild she was pretty sure she was crying, ‘ _Thank god it’s raining_.’

“Laura?” Owen quickly got over the shock of seeing Laura standing soaked on his door step, and he could tell by her eyes that something was wrong. He moved out of the way and held the door open farther for her. “Come in, you’re absolutely soaked.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly as she stepped inside. She looked around his place, since she didn’t want to make eye contact with him at the moment.

After closing the door, he walked through his semi-messy living room to a closet. “So why do I get graced with your presence this evening?” he asked, trying to lighten her mood. He watched her out the corner of his eye as he dug around for some towels.

Laura looked down at her hands and picked at her nails. “I…um…I had a bad day.”

 Owen glanced back over his shoulder at her and saw that her normally happy, playful features were replaced with pain and loss. He swore that he would kick the ass of the person responsible for this. “I’m sorry Laura,” he wrapped one of the towels around her shoulders, “do you want to talk about it?”

Laura’s mind blanked momentarily when he wrapped her in the towel, she could feel the heat radiating off of him and from his hands. He moved to sit on the arm rest of his couch. Her cheeks felt hot, but she shivered as her brain finally registered how cold she actually was. “Uh, yeah…” she grabbed one of the extra towels to wring out her hair, and to hide her face from him. “That’s actually why I’m here.”

However, she didn’t continue immediately. He watched her, patiently waiting for her to speak. He noticed that she was shivering and his frown deepened, but then she looked over at him and gave him a confused look. “You’re shivering, would you like something to warm you up? I have coffee and hot chocolate.”

She raised her eyebrow curiously and smiled. “Hot chocolate?”

Making her smile was a small win in his book, and he returned her smile. “Who doesn’t like hot chocolate?” As he headed to the kitchen to make it, he heard her chuckle behind him.

Laura tried to dry herself off as best she could with the towels, not that she really cared about wet clothes. She would never have made it in her field of work if she cared about that. Once she was drier, she wrapped the driest towel around her and sat down at one of the bar stools, just in time for Owen to place a mug of hot chocolate in front of her. “Thank you.” She wrapped her hands around the warm mug and took a sip, smiling as it warmed her from the inside out. What surprised her, however, was that it was probably the best hot chocolate she had ever had. “Owen this is delicious!”

“Don’t look so surprised, but I’m glad you like it.” He smile warmly back at her. The delight in her eyes over something so simple made his heart clench, but he was happy that he could help her forget her problems for a moment.

After she chugged the amazing hot chocolate, she thought about her reason for coming here, and looked down, her hands turning the mug nervously. “Owen…” ‘ _Why is this so much harder than talking to my parents?_ ’ She gathered her courage and locked eyes with him. “Is it true that you are working with velociraptors?” Laura new that Lowery had no reason to lie to her, but he could have gotten the main trainer’s name wrong. When she saw Owen stiffen and his face harden after being so relaxed and happy, she knew Lowery had gotten it right.

“How did you get that information?” InGen had given him specific instructions that no one outside of the project, except higher ups, was to know until the raptors were fully grown. They claimed that it was because of information security risk, but he knew that was bullshit. The most likely reason was that if people knew that raptors were on the island, they might freak out and leave, or not come to the island at all. Once he got to know Laura better, he had been conflicted about whether to tell her, but the last thing he wanted to do was get her fired because InGen thought she was a possible information leak.

“So it’s true.” Her voice was soft and she looked down, disheartened by the confirmation.

“Laura, I need to know –”

“Why!” she yelled, glaring at him.

Owen noticed her clenched fists. He had to get her to understand. “Because I don’t want you to get to in trouble for knowing information you shouldn’t.”

“What?” She scrunched her eyebrows, confused and frustrated, “Why the hell did you choose raptors?”

Now Owen scrunched his eyebrows, confused. ‘ _Why does that matter to her?_ ’ He raked one hand through his hair. “I really can’t tell you anymore information…”

‘ _What is he hiding? Well he did say he is trying to protect me from getting in trouble… but I have to know._ ’ “Owen, please…” she looked down at her fists and tried to keep her voice from cracking, “I need to know…” ‘… _I want to make sure you’re safe._ ’

When he heard her soft plea, his eyes and voice softened. “I-“, he was conflicted since he really shouldn’t tell her because of the contract that he signed, but she looked so distraught that it pained him to see like this. “Can you at least tell me why it’s so important to you first?”

She felt immobilized by his request. She had been planning on telling him about her parents eventually, but what would he do with this information? “Because,” she spoke down at her cup instead of to him, “of what my parents went through on this island over twenty years ago with them.”

He was puzzled by her answer, ‘ _What did her parents have to do with anything?_ ’ Then he remembered the picture in her living room, and his eyes widened as he realized who the guy in the picture was. Her father was Dr. Alan Grant, the archeologist. Owen had read his books to help prepare for working with the velociraptors, he had to be sure. “Your father is Dr. Alan Grant?”

She slowly nodded her head, still avoiding eye contact. “…Yes and my mother is Dr. Ellie Sattler, the paleobotonist.”

Every question he had about her suddenly made perfect sense, only to be replaced with new ones, like why she was working here. Then, his heart tightened when he realized that she was worried about him. “Oh,” he was at a loss for words at the moment, but eventually he said, “I can understand why finding out about this would upset you.”

Her lips tightened and she gave a small nod. “So… will you tell me why now?” She gave him a sad, questioning look.

Owen sighed and took a seat on the other bar stool. “Yeah.” He ran a hand over his chin, unsure of where to start. But then, he figured the beginning was the best. “InGen hired me out of the Navy to test the intelligence of velociraptors. Once here I specifically designed the paddock and grounds myself. Once the raptors hatched and they had imprinted on me I started to train them. The imprinting process has helped in their training process, similar to Mango, but I do not get in the enclosure with them as you did. And today we just moved them to the finalized paddock using some of their training. We will be starting to run tests to better understand their intelligence in a few weeks after they are accustomed to the enclosure.”

She relaxed some after hearing his explanation. She knew that safety was one of Owen’s main concerns and that pushed away some of her worry of them escaping. “How did you get permission to have them make more velociraptors after what happened at the first park?” she asked curiously.

He was relieved that she had calmed down some and chuckled at that being her first question. “They left that part out when they hired me. I had to call in a few favors get permission to have them hatched.”

“Ok, so why is it a secret?” She had turned fully towards him, and felt her knees barely brush against his leg.

“Not sure, though I suspect it’s to keep customers coming to the island.”

She scoffed. “Some things never change.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” His face became serious, “You know you’re not allowed to tell anyone, InGen would be furious if they found out you told anyone. They probably aren’t going to like the fact you found out or that I told you.”

She wasn’t going to tell anyone because she didn’t want to get him or Lowrey in trouble by telling her. She gave him a small smile, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Plus, the only people I would tell are my parents and I don’t think that would be such a good idea…” She had added the part about her parents as a joke, but she paled slightly when thinking of what they would do if they found out that there were velociraptors on the island again.

Owen saw her face drop after mentioning her parents and could only imagine what she was thinking about if her parents knew. There was a brief silence while Owen debated about asking her a question, not realizing that she had noticed his concerned, curious expression. “It’s ok, you can ask.” She gave him a small smile.

Her soft voice tore him from his thoughts and he asked the most pressing question on his mind, “Are you going to quit?” He didn’t want her to leave, but seeing her surprise, he tried to explain his reasoning. “I mean, you must hate raptors after everything, and probably don’t want to be here, knowing they are here.”

After a moment of surprise had waned, she laughed. “Here I was thinking you were going to ask why in the world I started working here in the first place.”

He smiled cockily and leaned a bit closer. “You know that I like to be different, but that had crossed my mind.”

“All too well,” she gave him a teasing smile back. “But I don’t hate raptors… it’s complicated.” She chuckled and looked out the window to see the rain falling steadily against the window. “They are, strangely, my favorite dinosaur. Well, I should now say my favorite terrestrial dinosaur because of Mango. But my dad had always so fascinated by them and to my mother’s displeasure probably even more after the events on these islands. When I was a kid, he taught me all about them, told me all the stories, and explained how smart they truly are.” Looking down at the bar, she fiddled with the edge. “But even though he was so fascinated by them, the events on these islands gave him nightmares… I sometimes had to help him get over them.” She frowned as she remembered all the times she had to wake up her dad from the nightmares. “My first find at the archeological dig site ended up being a velociraptor. I was so happy and excited. I woke him up from a nap telling him that I had found a velociraptor and freaked out, I had to convince him that it wasn’t alive.” She paused before looking back at him. “So now you know why it’s complicated.” She was a bit embarrassed that she had just spilled some of her not so fond memories to him and she tried to brighten the mood while laughing off her embarrassment. “As for why I am working at this damn park is because of a spoiled, little, fruit named, aquatic dinosaur that suckered me into loving her.”

Owen had listen patiently and had been very interested to understand her interest in raptors more. However, he wasn’t sure how he should respond at first since she had just confided in him. But he knew she wouldn’t want his pity or to stay on that topic, since she quickly changed it at the end. He gave her a small smile and covered her hand with his. “Well, I understand the hold that Mango has over you because of caring for the raptors, as well as the animals I trained in the navy. But if you ever want to meet my raptors, just let me know.”

Owen’s hand radiated heat over her still cool hand and it made her cheeks flush. She realized how close they both were, and her heart rate increased. Looking into his eyes, she decided she wasn’t going to be the one to back out now. After all the bad things that had happened today, she decided she deserved something to make it better. “I might just have to take you up on that sometime Mr. Grady,” she teased. “But wouldn’t you and I get in trouble if I was there?” she said with a quizzical look.

He smirked, noticing her flushed cheeks. “I’m sure we could figure something out. I could say we need to consult someone with scientific experience.” His voice was hushed.

“Oh.” She glanced at his lips, and moved her hand so their fingers were intertwined. “And what would this consulting entail?”

“I don’t know, probably some one on one meetings with the head trainer.” He said in a husky voice and a sexy smirk. His other hand brushed a strand of hair out of her face, then cupped her cheek.

“Oh really?” She smirked back, although her cheeks brighten some knowing he was the head trainer and his implication.

As their eyes met, they both saw the same emotions reflected. They got closer until they were sharing the same air with lips just barely touching. As their lips met they molded together perfectly and it felt like fire was searing through their bodies as the kiss turned more heated and passionate. They broke apart, gasping for breath, their foreheads pressed together, grinning like idiots.

Laura looked into Owen’s eyes which were just as happy as her own. “Is going to see your raptors your way of asking me out?” she teased with a bright smile.

He returned her smile with a playful smirk. “It worked, didn’t it.”

“I guess it did,” Laura laughed and gave him a bright smile with eyes sparkling with happiness at him asking her out in his own special way.

Owen’s heart soared knowing he was the cause of her happiness right now, and he gently pulled her into another kiss.

‘ _Maybe today wasn’t that bad after all_ ,’ she thought as she smiled into the kiss.


	10. Author's Note (Edited)

Hello everyone!

I am terribly sorry for not updating this story as often as I originally said. I was extremely busy with school and that unfortunately killed my ability to write creatively for a while (curse you scientific writing!). Then when I did get my groove back it had been so long since I wrote for this story I couldn't quite get the feel or characters right. That caused me to get frustrated, as the next few chapters I originally planned on adding weren't working out the way I wanted them too (and still haven't actually). But I am trying to get them correct, though it may take awhile.

However, because of this I am just going to currently skip the next few chapters I originally planned on adding. That way I can add the chapters for further down the story, basically starting during the Jurassic World movie. This way I you all have something more to read and then once I get the chapters that aren't working right now done I can just go back and add them in (even if it requires some messing around with the chapter order).

So thank you for being so incredibly patient with me, and I hope you understand that I didn't just abandon this story. I plan on finishing it, no matter how long it takes.

I hope you all enjoy the chapters I will be putting up. I will be posting a few chapters within the next few weeks to month (hopefully). But I appreciate your patience if it takes a bit longer than that as with the holiday season approaching, I can't accurately say how much time I will have to write and edit them.

Thanks for reading!

Love,  
OceansGoddess


	11. It begins again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apologize for the ridiculously slow updates. Please read the Author's Note to see why there is such a large skip in time between the last chapter and this one. 
> 
> Also I know this isn't perfect and that Y/N seems a bit weak, traumatized, etc. throughout the later part of this chapter. But with it being a while since I wrote for the story my writing of the characters has changed slightly. I might come up with a different version I like better, but for now this is all I got. 
> 
> I hope you all still like it. Let me know if there is a different way you think I could have taken this, it may spark and idea for me. If you do send me an idea and I use it I will give you credit! 
> 
> Love you all!
> 
> *Note: All characters (excluding Y/N) and movie lines aren't mine.

Y/N sat on the picnic bench outside Owen’s bungalow sipping from her bottle of coke as Owen was tuning one his motorcycles. Owen had just told her about what happened earlier at the velociraptor paddock. About how his day was going great because of how well the training went. Then Hoskins decided to inform him that he and Ingen wanted to use the raptors as weapons. Then the new guy fell in to the enclosure and he went in to save him. Though that only gave Hoskins what he wanted, proof that they would listen. Because he would ignore when they charged him afterwards.

Y/N frowned, “I can’t believe you went in the enclosure Owen. You told me you would never do that.”

Owen looked up from his bike, seeing the concern in her eyes. “I know, but what was I supposed to do. Let them hurt the kid, or worse the guards shoot my raptors. Plus your one to talk,” he gave her a playful smirk, “you’re the woman that was riding the mosasaur in its tank.”

“That was when she was a baby,” Y/N defended weakly.

“Yet, I know you would do it now if you still could.”

Y/N sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to win this. “I know that you had no other choice, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.” She gave him a

Both of their heads turned as a grey Mercedes rolled up. “What do they want now?” Owen asked. “I don’t know,” Y/N answered pulling off her headphones as she the red head step out of the car, “but whatever it is it can’t be good.” This comment caused Owen to chuckle.

“Mr. Grady. Ms. Sattler.” Claire greeted them as she walked towards them. “I need you both to come take a look at something.”

Owen put down the tools he was working on, “Why are you calling me Mr. Grady?”

Y/N smirked, knowing that he lets her get away with teasingly calling him that.

“Owen.” Claire corrected, looking away momentarily back at Y/N before continuing, “If you two aren’t too busy.”

He glanced over at Y/N with a smirk, as they had both just been relaxing and enjoying each other’s company. “We’re pretty busy.”

“I think you are forgetting the point, _Mr. Grady_.” Y/N mimicked Claire while giving him a teasing smile that caused him to shake his head trying to hide his amusement, while Claire looked between us confused. “What is this ‘something’ that she wants us to look at?”

“We have an attraction.” Claire said looking down at her feet.

Owen gave Y/N a mischievous smirk before standing up and speaking towards Claire, “That’s not what you said last time I saw you.”

This caused Y/N to choke on her coke, coughing she glared at him. _Was this pay back for the ‘Mr. Grady’ comment? Because that’s a bit overdoing it._  

While glancing over to Y/N with a slight concerned yet disgusted look Claire said, “I’m talking about the dinosaurs, Mr. Grady.”

Owen could have sworn he heard Y/N stifle a laugh as she tried to correct her breathing from coughing when Claire called him Mr. Grady again. “Owen,” he repeated to Claire.

“A new species we’ve made,” Claire continued ignoring his comment.

Still recovering from her coughing Y/N turned toward Claire with shock and disbelief, before looking over to Owen sharing a ‘ _They couldn’t be this stupid, could they?_ ’ look.

“You just went and made a new dinosaur?” Owen voice was concerned.

“Yeah. It’s kind of what we do here.” Claire defended. “The exhibit opens in three weeks, Mr. Masrani wanted me to consult with the two of you. We’d like you two to evaluate the paddock for vulnerabilities.”

 “Oh that’s just great. You’ve made a new dinosaur, it’s already in the paddock, and _now_ you want someone to inspect it,” Y/N said while standing up to get closer to the conversation. She was pleased as this comment got a chuckle out of Owen and a glare from Claire, but she was still concerned about what could possibly happen because of this.

Owen ran up the stairs to grab something from behind his bungalow and yelled back, “Why us?”

Turning away from Y/N Claire followed Owen towards his bungalow, “I guess Mr. Masrani thinks, since Ms. Sattler can control the mosasaur and you’re able to control the raptors…”

“See,” Owen interjects, “it’s all about control with you. I don’t control the raptors.”

“And I don’t control Mango, it’s a relationship.” She said as she sat against the motorcycle Owen was fixing.

“Exactly, it’s based on mutual respect,” Owen said walking back towards Claire. “That’s why you and I never had a second date,” he said as he past her and back down the steps to his motorcycle.

Y/N partially forgave him for his comment earlier that made her choke and now focused on trying not to look smug. Claire’s shock expression was priceless and the fact that Owen was looking at her with playful and loving eyes made it that much harder not too.

“Excuse me? I never wanted a second date.” Claire retaliated, trying to regain composure.

“Who prints out an itinerary for a night out?” Owen bounced back while sitting back down next to his bike, which Y/N was still sitting on trying very hard not to laugh.

“I’m an organized person,” Claire said defensively, eyeing the distance between the two of them.

“Hell, what kind of a diet doesn’t allow tequila?” Owen shot back. This comment caused Y/N to crack as she covered her mouth trying not to laugh at the two bickering.

“All of them, actually. And what kind of a man shows up to a date in board shorts?” Claire argued back.

“It’s Central America. It’s hot,” Owen said as he started to work again on the bike.

“He’s got a point,” Y/N said trying to hide the laughter from her voice but failing.

“See,” He points to her with a grin, “she gets it.”

“Okay, okay,” Claire said taking a breath to try calm herself in order to get back to business. “Can we just focus on the asset, please?”

“The asset?”  Both Owen and Y/N say in unison towards the red head.

Owen stands up and moves towards the stairs, “Look, I get it. You’re in charge out here, you gotta make a lot of tough decisions. It’s probably easier to pretend these animals are just numbers on a spreadsheet. But they’re not. They’re alive.”

“I’m fully aware they’re alive.” Claire

“You might have made them in a test tube, but they don’t know that.” Y/N points out.

“Exactly, they’re thinking: ‘I gotta eat. I gotta hunt. I gotta…” Owen slowly punches the air in a sexual gesture, this causes Claire to roll their eyes and Y/N to shake her head. “You can relate to at least one of those things, right?”

“I’ll be in the car,” Claire says as she walks down the stairs. “You might want to change your shirt. They’re very sensitive to smell,” she smirks at him before turning and walking to her car.

Y/N sighed, “I guess we have to go. I’ll drive.”

Owen turned back towards her with a teasing smile, “What, you don’t want to take my motorcycle?”

“After you’ve been messing with it for the last hour, I don’t think so,” Y/N smiled back at him and patted his shoulder as she made her way to her truck.

~

The construction crews were on break as they arrived in separate cars. Both Owen and Y/N stare up at the towering unfinished walls, both of them looking unconvinced and more than a little uneasy. Y/N stared at the work in progress with growing concern, all the noise the construction was making would possibly make the dinosaur to become more aggressive. Y/N looked towards Owen when she felt him place his hand on her lower back. She could see similar thoughts reflected on his face. The two followed the red-head as she made her way towards the enclosure.

“We've been pre-booking tickets for months. The park needs a new attraction every few years in order to reinvigorate the public's interest. Kind of like the space program.” She states as over her shoulder to the two as she leads them to the stairs to the observation tower. “Corporate felt genetic modification would up the ‘wow’ factor.”

“Genetic modification?” Y/N whispered the feeling of dread increased, causing her to pause her ascent up the stairs. Genetic modification was already used to create these versions of dinosaurs they had in the park, but the way Clarie said it made it seem as if wasn’t the ‘normal’ type of genetic modification. And with increased genetic modification generally leads to unstable subjects, at least in the few papers Y/N had read on the subject, so mixing that with dinosaurs was a terrible idea.

Owen behind Claire frowned, unamused by what she just said. “They're dinosaurs. ‘Wow’ enough.”

Claire smirked, not that either could see it. “Not according to our focus groups. The Indominus rex makes us relevant again.”

“I’m sorry, the what?” Y/N questioned, as that was definitely not a real dinosaur species.

Owen couldn’t believe his ears, a wide smile on his face. “The Indominus rex!”

Claire sighed, clearly annoyed. “We needed something scary and easy to pronounce. You should hear a four year old try to say ‘Archaeornithomimus’.” She stated before turning away from the pair to open the door.

Owen frowned. “You should hear you try to say it...” His childish comeback made Y/N smile, but it didn’t help easy any of the tension she had.

As they entered the observation room, Y/N tried to focus at the task at hand. So far Jurassic World had impressed her with their safety precautions, and Owen and her visit was just another one of those to insure the safety of guests. What little tension was released was immediately regained as she saw the farthest window near the security guard. There was a large crack across the window and bars across the outside of it. She quickly makes her way towards where Owen is standing overlooking the paddock. “Owen,” she whispered low, sure he heard the concern and fear in her voice. When his eyes met hers she continued, “the window… it’s cracked.”

Owen nodded, he had seen that when they came in. Though he put it up to the animal reacting to the construction work and noise, he knew exactly where her thoughts were. He gave her a reassuring smile and gave her hand a soft squeeze. He waited until she seemingly calmed down some before turning back to the paddock. His eyes scanned the vegetation, but he still hadn’t spotted it. “What's this thing made of, anyhow?” Figuring knowing what it was would help him find it.

Claire fixed her hair in the window, “The base genome is a T. rex, the rest is... classified.” She turned to face Owen, but lips twisted in a small frown to see the two trainers near one another.

“You made a new dinosaur but you don't even know what it is?” Owen asked, doubtful that was entirely true.

“It isn’t spliced with another dinosaur, is it?” Y/N questioned and hoped to god the answer was no.

Claire already annoyed by the sight of the two of them together, was increasingly annoyed by the line of questioning. “The lab delivers us new assets and we show them to public.” She turned to the security guard that was on his lunch break. “Can we drop a steer, please,” Claire asked quite forcefully. The guard annoyed, reluctantly does what he is told and presses a button.

In her time here, Y/N had learnt to sort of read Claire, and when she gives a completely different answer than the question you ask means you were on the right track. “That’s a yes then,” it came out softly to where only Owen could hear it. Y/N heart was racing, as this seemed exactly how all of the stories started that her parents told her. The ideas she was coming up with of what those geneticists could have cooked up in that lab of theirs was terrifying. What was more terrifying was that decided to start with modifying one of the largest known carnivorous dinosaurs.

Owen gave her hand another squeeze, to try to break her out of her thoughts knowing where her thoughts were leading her. She looked up at him, but gave him a wavering smile. He could still tell she was concerned but decided to keep going with his line of questioning. The sooner this was over the better. “How long has the animal been in here?”

“All its life.” Claire stated as if it was nothing.

Owen frowned at the answer. “Never seen anything outside of these walls?”

“We can't exactly walk it.”

A rumbling noise outside catches Y/N’s and Owen’s attention, a huge crane lowers a hunk of beef down from above. Y/N’s breath catches at the sight, remembering that her father told her they fed the velociraptors with a crane like this.

“And you feed it with that?” Owen walked closer to the window, hands now on his hips. While Y/N backs away from the window, her breathing fast. Deciding she needs air some she turns towards the door, but freezes in place when something catches her eye.

Claire wasn’t understanding where he was going with it, becoming bemused and still mildly annoyed. “Is there a problem?”

“Animals raised in isolation aren't always the most functional.”

“Your raptors are born in captivity...” Claire walked closer to him.

“With siblings,” He stated simply, as she wasn’t getting what he was saying. “They learn social skills. And I imprint on them when they're born. There's trust. The only positive relationship this animal has is with that crane.” He points to it, “at least she knows that means food.” Owen becoming increasingly concerned at this whole situation, but Claire didn’t share his opinion.

“So she needs a friend? We should schedule play dates? That sort of thing?” She says in a patronizing and sarcastic tone, but inches closer to him.

“Probably not a good idea.” Owen says darkly.

Noticing the dinosaur hasn't emerged from the jungle to eat the meat, Claire leans over and taps on the glass. “Where is it...?”

Owen now returns her earlier sarcastic tone. “What, is it in the basement? Is there a downstairs? Maybe it's in the rec room.”

Ignoring him, Claire shakes her head. “It was just here. We were just here.” She goes to one of the thermal imaging consoles and activates it. It performs a scan of the jungle. After a moment it emits an annoyed buzzing sound and flashes the readout ‘NO THERMAL SIGNATURES DETECTED’. The other computer screens arranged around the room begin beeping in alarm and they all show the same words. They're not detecting any body heat inside the paddock. The Indominus rex isn't showing up.

Owen turns to look at screen on the wall to his right, though in doing so he sees Y/N staring out the window at the end of the room. As he nears her he notices she is shaking, but he follows her focus out the window. “Oh, shit.” He stares up at the wall that has large claw marks all the way up the wall.

“Were those claw marks always there?” Owen points out the window.

Claire turns and quickly comes to look at what he's pointing at. Though slows down as they all now look up at the claw marks. “You think it...?” Her voice fades as realization hits her and she begins trembling. “Oh, God!” She turns to run out, “She has an implant in her back! I can track it from the control room!”

Owen watches her go, then turns and looks back out the window. His military training kicked in, he decided he needed assess the situation down there in the paddock. He turned to question the security guard, “Can we get down there?”

Y/N turned towards Owen with a look of concern and fear. _He couldn’t possibly be thinking of going down there, could he?_

The guard nodded, “Yeah. There is another access door on the ground floor on the other side of the paddock.

“Good, show me.” Owen started to walk towards the exit when a hand grabbed his arm halting him.

“No! You can’t go down there.” Y/N voice was trembling, and she pleaded to him with her eyes to listen. “This is how it started last time…,” she added quietly.

He rubbed both of her shoulders reassuringly, “It will be fine. I just need to assess the situation down there and we know it isn’t in there.”

“Then I’m coming with you.”

Owen shook his head. “I rather you stay up here,” she was opened her mouth to counter act him before he continued quieter. “Your freaking out Y/N, and I get why, but I need you up here until you get your head back. Please.”

Reluctantly Y/N gave in, nodding her head in agreement. Owen did know what he was doing, and it was likely that she was over thinking the situation. This wasn’t the first time a dinosaur had gotten out of containment, but it was the first with a carnivore.

“I’ll be right back.” Owen gave her a reassuring smile and kiss to the forehead, before following the guard out.

Y/N tired to calm herself down while she waited for them to enter the paddock. Though as the door opened on the other side she began to become anxious again as she watched Owen, the guard and another worker walk through the enclosure.

Owen and the guard walk warily through the jungle to the back wall, where they meet another worker, that is inspecting the claw marks. Owen is on full alert while the guard looks nervous, but they make it over to where the worker is without incident. Much to Y/N’s relief from the viewing platform. Owen walks up and feels the deep grooves with his bare hand. The three men stare up at the massive wall looming over them.

“That wall's forty feet high. You really think she could've climbed out?” The guard asks skeptically to Owen.

“Depends.” Owen says still focused on the wall.

“On what?”

“What kinda dinosaur they cooked up in that lab...”

While the three of them eyed the wall Y/N began to get a terrible feeling. She cautiously eyed the surrounding paddock, something just wasn’t sitting right with her. That’s when the voice came through the speakers, “Paddock 11, this is Control! You need to evacuate the containment...” Y/N rushed to the window closest to the three men.

They all looked around the paddock confused, as to them the woman’s voice came through all garbled.

 “...area... ...Paddock 11... ...dock 11, do you copy...” the garbled voice came through again. Owen glanced around, suddenly uneasy.

The guard spoke into his radio nonchalantly, “Yeah, what's the problem?”

Y/N starts to bang on the window, causing Owen to look up at her. He notices how terrified she looks and how she is yelling something. It takes a moment to realize she is screaming ‘get out’. That’s when the woman’s voice comes again this time clearer, “It's in the cage! It's in there with you!”

Owen springs into action. “Go!” He yells to the others and pushes past the guard. The three men begin running for the door across the paddock.

Y/N watched helpless from the observation deck as the Owen and the worker run ahead of the slow security guard. But then the guard turned back towards where he came. She looked up into the enclosure that’s when she sees the huge white dinosaur. Owen and worker skid to a halt as the Indominous rex emerges from the jungle and blocks their escape. _How could that have been hidden in there and none of us or the thermal system know it was in there?_ Y/N paled at the sight. It roared, causing the glass windows around her to shake, and the two men to run the other way. She is horrified when the worker wasn’t fast enough and the Indominus snatches him up in her claws. She can hear his muffled scream through the glass, she covered her mouth to keep a scream of her own. Owen was still running towards the main door, which the guard had opened with his security code. Y/N heard the rumble and turns to see the huge door begins to open. She looks down and sees the guard running to it, before looking back at Owen who is running towards the guard with Indominus rex right behind him. The Indominus rips off one of the workers legs. The guard screams and runs through the door. Y/N cursed at the guard because now the Indominus rex can actually escape, but she thanks the guard when noticing that Owen is close the door and the Indominus is distracted with the body of the other worker.

The Indomnius finishes with the workers body and starts after Owen. “No!” Y/N yells and starts banging against the window, desperately trying to switch the Indominus’ attention from Owen to herself. Then suddenly the huge door begins to slowly close as Owen runs towards it, with the huge predator gaining on him from behind.

“Shit!” Owen pushed himself to run faster and barely runs through the closing doors. Workers outside the enclosure rush around in a wild panic, trying to escape, as Indominus gets halfway through before the door closes on her. Her head and one arm stick free and she snaps her jaws at Owen, who keeps running before sliding underneath the crane. As lay hiding on his stomach the Indominus pushed the door off of its track with the servos whining in protest and then steps out from inside the paddock, freed. Y/N watched in disbelief as the Indominus forced the doors open and slips through. Y/N dashed to the door and hesitantly opens it a bit to hopefully see what’s happening outside the enclosure.

Owen watched, wide-eyed, as Indominus slowly stomps over to where the guard is hiding in front of a pickup truck. She walked around the other side of truck while the guard peers around the right front bumper. He whimpered and sobs as he sees the huge tail disappearing around the rear of the truck. He clutched and kisses his crucifix.

Suddenly the truck is violently knocked aside, crashing noisily to the ground upside-down next to the crane which Owen is hiding under. Owen looks through the broken window at the guard, now in the open, before jaws snap down and lifting him up out of view.

Acting quickly, Owen draws his survival knife from its sheath and rolls over onto his back. Reaching up, he grabs the crane's fuel line and cutting desperately at the line with his blade until he slices through. He smeared the spewing gasoline down all over himself in an effort to mask his scent. The Indominus, finished with the guard, now approaches the crane and crouches down on all fours, sniffing. Owen lies back, perfectly still while holding his breath. The dinosaur's bloody jaws inch closer and closer... Owen believes for a moment that she isn’t fooled. But then she withdraws, rising up out of view, and walks away.

Slowly, Owen lifts his head, watching her thudding footsteps retreating into the distance. Shivering, he lies back down and exhales in relief.

Y/N watches as the Indominus rex disappears into the jungle, she waits for a long as she could stand in case it was still close by before running down the steps. She needed to find Owen, she hoped he wasn’t another victim of this godforsaken island. “Owen?” she called out in a semi hushed voice. “Owen!” she ran over to where the vehicles were, figuring those were the ‘best’ hiding spots.

Owen crawled slowly out from beneath the crane. Y/N was so relieved at the sight tears started to fall and she ended up slightly crashing into him as she hugged him straight from her sprint over to him. Once he steadied himself, so they wouldn’t fall over, he gratefully returned her hug. He eyed the jungle around them warily, he knew they weren’t safe here. “Hey, we got to get out of here no telling if she will come back or not.”

Y/N nodded, though reluctant to let go of him. They made their way to her truck, which thankfully was undamaged. Y/N tossed Owen the keys, figuring he’d be better potential evasive maneuvers on the dirt roads because of his military training. The entire car ride was tense, as neither knew if the Indominus would pop out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet to be fully edited, so there may be things incorrect. Let me know if you see any issues.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my great friend Ali for reviewing my writing!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading and I would love to hear your thoughts!


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